No sooner than France had announced the return of the Royal Manuscripts to Korea, many were trying to raise new arguments against the return.

It is worth bearing in mind, that for many years, whilst the manuscripts were in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the library itself did not realise that they owned them, as they were not catalogued correctly.

From:
The Art Tribune

Korean manuscripts: the end of inalienability ?
Didier Rykner, Sunday 21 November 2010

The decision made by Nicolas Sarkozy during his trip to Seoul for the G20 summit will have far reaching consequences for national heritage, adding to those already endangering it.
Many of us had suspected as much but Vincent Noce’s revelations in Libération on 18 November 2010, accompanied by a text protesting the move and signed by several curators at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, confirms it beyond a doubt: the restitution of the Korean manuscripts by Nicolas Sarkozy, a political and diplomatic act, is in fact, totally illegal.

Some are already congratulating themselves for France’s so-called generosity without understanding the ins and outs of this affair. In an opinion expressed in Le Monde on 17 November 2010, two university presidents and Jack Lang write that these manuscripts “constitute a unique and essential historical record for Korea”.
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