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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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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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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The British Museum may want to hang onto the Rosetta Stone, but many people feel that now is the time to return it to Egypt.

From:
The Independent

Letters: The Rosetta Stone
It’s time to gracefully relinquish the Rosetta Stone
Saturday, 12 December 2009

The Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles are priceless, culturally significant antiquities brought to Britain under arrangements that were perfectly legal at the time, and so Egypt and Greece have no claim that could succeed in any court (The Big Question, 9 December).

In the past, that has been considered sufficient justification by the British Museum for it to reject any requests for their return. When you add the facts that Egyptian museums have been less secure, and that had the marbles remained in position on the Parthenon they would have decomposed in the atmospheric pollution so as no longer to be recognisable, then most rational people would have supported that position.
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More coverage of the return by the Louvre of Egyptian artefacts.

From:
Press TV

Louvre returns Egypt’s ancient artworks
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:34:26 GMT

The Louvre Museum has returned Egypt’s ancient wall paintings after the country severed ties with the French art hub in October.

Egypt retrieved the fragments after President Hosni Mubarak checked one of them during a visit with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, Artdaily reported.
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Following the earlier decision by the Louvre to return various fresco fragments, the actual return of these objects has now taken place.

From:
Agence France Presse

France returns stolen Louvre relics to Egypt
(AFP) – 22 hours ago

PARIS — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy handed his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak a stolen ancient relic on Monday, ending a row between France and Egypt over artefacts taken from a Luxor tomb.

“Thank you very much,” Mubarak said as Sarkozy presented the painted wall fragment to him, following a formal lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.
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