The Korean manuscripts that ended up in Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale have now returned to Korea. Agreements have also been made for the return of various artefacts held by Japan.

From:
Art Daily

Korean Royal Books Looted by French Soldiers in the 19th Century Get Colorful Welcome
Friday, June 24, 2011
By: Kelly Olsen, Associated Press

SEOUL (AP).- South Korea celebrated the return of nearly 300 royal books looted by French soldiers in the 19th century with solemn ceremonies Saturday bringing alive the color and pageantry of a bygone royal age.

Bearers dressed in bright red costumes of the Joseon Dynasty carried a palanquin containing some of the books to central Seoul’s Gyeongbok Palace to the piercing sound of traditional horns and gongs.
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Despite protests that the return should not even be considered, negotiations are now ongoing between France & Korea to sort out the details of the return of manuscripts from the BNF.

From:
Digital Chosun ilbo

France, Korea Begin Negotiations on Return of Looted Books
Arirang News / Dec. 08, 2010 11:23 KST

Talks over the return of Korean royal texts looted by the French Navy in 1866 have begun, a month after President Lee Myung-bak and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy struck an agreement on the transfer.

The Korean Embassy in France announced on Tuesday that follow-up discussions began last weekend, amidst an expected backlash from French political conservatives and curators at the National Library of France.
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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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More coverage of the resistance by Biblitheque Nationale staff in France to the proposed return of various looted manuscripts to Korea.

From:
Digital Chosun ilbo

French Librarians Oppose Return of Korean Royal Texts
Nov. 19, 2010 09:33 KST

Opposition is mounting in France against the return of royal Korean archives looted during a botched invasion in the 19th century and held in the French national library. Librarians at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) in a statement Thursday protested against the return of the 297 volumes of the Oegyujanggak royal archives, which was agreed in a recent summit in Seoul between President Lee Myung-bak and French President Nikolas Sarkozy.

The statement of opposition was signed by around 10 officials led by Thierry Delcourt, the director of the manuscripts department.
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Following the recent announcement by France’s president that the Bibliothèque Nationale would return numerous looted manuscripts to Korea has led to a backlash by librarians from the BNF. This issue (where the president makes decision without first discussing it with all stakeholders, followed by a subsequent backlash) is very similar to what happened with the Palermo fragment of the Parthenon Frieze in 2006, whereby the Italian president stated that the fragment would be returned, but had not discussed this with the museum in Sicily which held it, leading to a very lengthy delay before the fragment finally arrived in Athens.

The BNF staff have responded by creating a petition against the return of the manuscripts.

From:
Jesigne

Statut de la pétition

Declaration of On the fringes of G20 summit in Seoul, the President of the Republic has announced the return to South Korea of a vast collection of Korean manuscripts held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1867. It should not be forgotten that copies of most of these manuscripts exist in Korea.

– the decision was taken against the advice of the Bibliothèque and of the Ministry of Culture, which for years have pleaded in favour in agreements involving reciprocity or corresponding benefits (exchange, mutual loans etc.). Any such possibility has now been abandoned.
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Further coverage of France’s decision to return numerous disputed manuscripts to South Korea.

From:
UPI

World News
France will return Korean kings’ books
Published: Nov. 12, 2010 at 9:54 AM

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (UPI) — France will return a royal library its invaders stole from Korea in the 19th century, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

The Uigwe books, royal records from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), were taken by a French force that seized a Korean island in 1866 in reprisal for persecution of French Catholic missionaries. The books are at the National Library of France.
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In a surprising change of mind following an earlier court decision, France has decided to return various disputed manuscripts from the Bibliotheque Nationale to South Korea.

From:
People’s Daily

France to return stolen S. Korean royal document
21:14, November 12, 2010

France pledged Friday to return South Korean royal documents looted during its invasion more than a century ago, once a source of constant diplomatic feud between the two countries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who held 40-minute summit talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit here, promised to lease the ancient documents and allow the five-year lease deal to be renewed.
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Korea like other countries has been observing the approach taken by countries such as Italy & Egypt in retrieving their cultural property, whereby they have switched from a diplomatic approach to more hard-line measures with a certain amount of success.

From:
Joong Ang Daily

More than treasure lies beneath a historical trove of Korean art
[NEWS IN FOCUS:First in a two-part series]

Determining who has the rights – legal and natural – to the relics is a complicated question.
March 01, 2010

For much of its tumultuous history, Korea was invaded by stronger nations. Time after time, dating back to the fifth century, invaders ravaged the helpless country and none went home without spoils: They carted off cultural treasures ranging from texts from royal libraries to paintings and sculptures.
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A French court has ruled on the Korean Manuscripts located in the Bibliothèque Nationale, stating that they are national property & belong to France.

From:
Korea Herald

Monday, January 11, 2010
[EDITORIAL] Looted artifacts

A recent French court ruling that Joseon-period royal texts looted by the French navy in 1866 belong to the National Library of France should spur the Korean government to step up efforts to have them returned to Korea.

The story of these long-lost royal books is an unfortunate one. The French navy stole 297 books from a royal library on Ganghwa Island, then burned down the building with the rest of its holdings during an invasion in 1866.
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