Tainted Treasures - in search of solutions
Korean cultural objects in Japan and art-related disputes in postwar Europe

Sponsored by:

The Asia Foundation, The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Tokyo Keizai University

Time:

November 27 - 29, 2004

Place:

Tokyo Keizai University Map, International House of Japan in Tokyo Map ,The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Map

Unknown to the general public, thousands of Korean art and cultural treasures, many brought to Japan when the Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony, are gathering dust in museums, universities and private collections in Japan. In spite of the recent rise in positive feelings toward South Korea in Japan, resentment among Koreans about the removal of Korean art objects - celadon china, rare books, Buddhist paintings, stone statuary, as well as the entire contents of royal tombs - remains an issue blocking regional reconciliation about the past.

Although the Japanese government has arranged for the repatriation of many Korean art objects after diplomatic normalization with South Korea in 1965, calls for the return of thousands more items - including many to North Korea - continue to be heard. But are all Korean treasures in Japan tainted? Which art objects should be sent back and which should remain? Is there a legal basis for repatriation or should Japanese and Koreans seek to share a regional cultural legacy through non-legal arrangements?

International disputes over ownership of cultural treasures are not unique to Japan and Korea. Nearly 60 years after World War II, European art historians and legal experts struggle to come up with equitable arrangements for repatriation of art objects plundered at first by German forces and later by the Soviet Army.

Germany, Poland and Russia have managed to settle some of these cases of "tainted treasures." Others remain unsolved. Do the European negotiations offer models of successful solutions for Northeast Asia? And what role should UNESCO play in the settlement of international art disputes?

Workshop and related events

Time: November 27, 20041:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m
Place: Tokyo Keizai University Kokubunji Campus Building B Room 206 Map
Language: English and Japanese with simultaneous translation

ime: 1:00 p.m to 3:00 p.m
Welcoming remarks:

FUJISAWA Fusatoshi, Professor, Faculty of Economics, TKU
Gebhard HIELSCHER, Director, Tokyo office, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)
Andrew HORVAT, Japan representative, The Asia Foundation (TAF)

HAYASHI Yoko (Ms), Japan
Art historian/art manager,
Associate Professor, Shobi University:
Keynote paper on the present state of the dialogue / dispute
between Japan and South Korea on Korean art treasures in Japan,
a Japanese perspective:

--- Korean Cultural Treasures in Japan
from the Perspective of Art Management ---

KWON Cheeyun (Ms), South Korea
Art historian, Seoul National University:
Reply to the keynote paper, a Korean perspective

Discussion

Time: 3:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m
Viewing of Korean Diaspora Art Exhibition on campus of
Tokyo Keizai University and visit to Sakurai Bunko, TKU's collection of Korea-related Japanese prints

Time: November 28, 2004 11:15 a.m to 5:00 p.m.
Place: International House of Japan in Tokyo Map
Language: English and Japanese with simultaneous translation

11:15 a.m. -12:45 p.m.
The present state of the dialogue/dispute between Japan and South Korea on Korean art treasures in Japan (open session)

HAYASHI Yoko (Ms), Japan
Art historian/art manager,
Associate Professor, Shobi University

KWON Cheeyun (Ms), South Korea
Art historian, Seoul National University

LEE Keun-Gwan, South Korea
Professor, Seoul National University

LEE Ku-Yeol, South Korea,
Director, Institute of Modern Art Research, Author of "Korea's Lost Culture"

12:45 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Europe (Germany, Poland, Russia) and Asia

Wolfgang EICHWEDE, Germany
Professor, University of Bremen,
Director, Research Centre of Easteuropean Studies,
Representative of the City of Bremen in negotiations with
Russia about the return of art objects taken by Soviet soldiers:

How to deal with art objects plundered by German soldiers in the Soviet Union and by Soviet soldiers in Germany during and after World War II -- results achieved, issues to be solved - a German perspective.

Wojciech KOWALSKI, Poland
Professor, Department of Law and Administration, Silesian University, Katowice, Representative of the Polish government at UNESCO meetings on how to deal with art objects obtained under questionable circumstances:

--- Restitution of War Looted Works of Art ? the Polish Experience ---

3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Coffee break

3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Looking for Solutions (1)
- Political-diplomatic dimensions
- Legal issues: private versus public ownership
- Tax incentives, research and preservation, public access
- UNESCO's role

HAYASHI Yoko (Ms), Japan
Art historian/art manager, Associate Professor, Shobi University

KWON Cheeyun (Ms), South Korea
Art historian, Seoul National University

Walter EDWARDS, USA
Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Tenri University, Japan

Hyung Il PAI (Ms), South Korea
Associate Professor, East Asian Languages & Cultures and the History Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA,

Wolfgang EICHWEDE, Germany
Professor, University of Bremen, Director, Research Center for East European Studies

Wojciech KOWALSKI, Poland
Professor, Department of Law and Administration, Silesian University, Katowice

Time: November 29, 2004 12:00 p.m to 2・・0 p.m 

Profs Kono & Kowalski, "Tainted Treasures"

Professional Luncheon: Professor Toshiyuki Kono, Graduate School of Law, Kyushu University; Dr Wojciech Kowalski, Professor, Department of Law and Administration, Silesian University, Katowice, Representative of the Polish Government to UNESCO Talks on Looted Art

November 29, 2004 12:00
(12:00-14:00 Monday November 29, the speech and Q & A will be in English)

"Tainted Treasures - Repatriation Of Cultural Artifacts In
Asia And Europe After Colonialism And War"

On November 9, the Korea Herald reported that Korean Buddhist art objects stolen from a temple in Japan had been donated to a Buddhist temple in Korea. The incident focused attention on a controversy over the presence of tens of thousands of Korean art objects in Japanese collections. Officially there are 34,000 Korean art objects in Japan. Unofficially there are said to be more than ten times that many. Although many of the objects arrived in Japan through commercial channels or through cultural exchanges, many others, including those excavated from tombs during Japan's colonial rule of Korea, were the result of looting.

How to deal with looted art is the specialty of two international lawyers, both members of a UNESCO experts group. Professor Wojciech Kowalski is "ambassador ad personam" to UNESCO talks on this issue. His Japanese counterpart is Professor Toshiyuki Kono, a distinguished international legal scholar from the University of Kyushu. The two experts hold somewhat different views on how to encourage present owners of disputed art objects to part with their possessions.

For more details on the stolen Korean art story please see:
URL :http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=4,139,0,0,1,0