문화재에 관한 한일 간의 갈등 -그 역사와 인식의 차이-

Abstract

Most of cultural properties had disappeared during Japan's occupation of the

Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. From the late 19th century until Japan's

defeat in World War Ⅱ, Japanese colonial officials and private collectors

amassed at least 100,000 artifacts and cultural treasures from all corners of the

Korean peninsula. Japanese looters and government-sponsored archaeologists and

art historians, even in the government itself violated the tombs of Korea's Kings

and Queens, plundering finely worked all kind of artifacts. They carted off stone

carvings, pagodas and reliquary caskets from Buddhist temples and removed tens

of thousands of ancient manuscripts from libraries.

But the story of Japan's plunder of Asia and in particular of Korea, where the

worst abuses occurred, remains relatively unexplored. While conspiracy theories

of hidden troves of gold looted by the Japanese abound, there has been little

serious of stolen art and artifacts. One reason for this little seriousness:

postwar discussions of Japanese cultural restitution were rapidly superseded by

political considerations. A key opponent of Japanese restitution was General

Douglas MacArthur.

The issue of missing cultural property remains unsettled and emotive thorn in

the tortured relationship between Japan and both Koreas. The North has put the

return of stolen cultural property high on the agenda in its talks with Japan on

normalizing relations. Even after decades of relatively cordial political relations...