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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