The royal seal of Queen Munjeong, front , and the royal seal of King Hyeonjong are on display at "The Return of the Royal Seals" exhibition at the National Palace Museum of Korea, Friday. / Yonhap



By Kwon Mee-yoo

Royal seals from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), including those returned home from the United States after being looted, are on view at the National Palace Museum of Korea in central Seoul, starting Saturday.

The centerpieces of "The Return of the Royal Seals" exhibit are the royal seal of Queen Munjeong and the royal seal of King Hyeonjong, which were illegally taken out of Korea over 65 years ago. The two "eobo," or royal seals, were returned home in July, accompanied by President Moon Jae-in heading back to Korea from his first summit with U.S President Donald Trump.

The mid-Joseon era seal was in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which purchased them from a private collector in 2000.

The Korean National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage studied Korean artifacts in the U.S. museums and found the looted seal and the country's Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) asked the U.S. to return the cultural assets to its rightful home.

The royal seal of Queen Munjeong is about 10x10 centimeters in size and in guilt bronze. It was produced in 1547 and reproduced in 1554, after being burnt in 1553. Joseon's 13th King Myeongjong created the seal to commemorate a eulogistic title given to his mother when she was ruling as regent.

King Hyeonjong's royal seal is made from jade and was created in 1651 to mark his becoming crown prince. It was in possession of the collector who sold Queen Munjeong's royal seal to the museum and later confiscated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations along with Queen Munjeong's seal.

The seals were stored in the Jongmyo (the royal ancestral shrine) and assumed to be looted from the shrine during the 1950-53 Korean War at an unknown time, the CHA said.

The royal seals were used for ceremonial purpose and represent the legitimacy and authority of the state and royal family.

'Deokjongeobo' turns out to be reproduction

The exhibit also features other royal seals returned home in recent years.

"Deokjong Eobo," or the royal seal of King Deokjong, donated by the Seattle Art Museum in 2015 is one of them.

This seal sparked controversy as it was originally promoted as a 15th-century relic, but later turned out to be reproduced in the early 20th century.

Originally, the CHA announced that the seal was produced in 1471 by Joseon's ninth King Seongjong in honor of his late father King Deokjong (1438-1457).

However, research conducted after the return revealed that it was made after the 1924 robbery at the Jongmyo shrine.

Ven. Hyemun, the Buddhist priest who leads the civic group dedicated to reclaiming Korean cultural assets, criticized the CHA for self-praising its achievement.

The CHA explained that the royal seals in question are reproduced, but not fake.

"The seal was lost during the Japanese colonial era and there is a document proving that it was reproduced by the Joseon Craftwork Manufactory immediately after the theft and enshrined in Jongmyo. We didn't know it was a reproduction when we retrieved it from Seattle and later found out it was not from the 15th century," the CHA said.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 29. For more information, visit www.gogung.go.kr or call 02-3701-7500. </s> The North Korea leader was pictured laying a beautiful coloured flower wreath at the cemetery in South Phyongan province. Kim Jong-un stood before a huge statue of an armed North Korean solider as he paid his respects to the war dead. North Korea’s state media KCNA reported: “Kim Jong-un said that the Korean people would as ever take pride in having the creditable fraternal country and the great friend like the People's Republic of China.” The Korea War Armistice was signed on July 21, 1953 after three years of war and was designed to "ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved”.

The two Koreas are technically still at war because a peace treaty was never signed. The armistice was signed by representatives from the UN, Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Army. Kim Jong-un also attended a ceremony at Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery in Pyongyang where he met with participants of the 5th National Conference of War Veterans. The North Korean dictator also laid another wreath at the cemetery.

To mark the anniversary North Korea transferred 55 small, flag-draped cases carrying the suspected remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War on Friday, officials said. The pledge to transfer war remains was missing in the 1950-53 conflict seen as a goodwill gesture by Kim Jung-un at his June summit with Donald Trump. President Trump on his Twitter account said: ”After so many years, this will be a great moment for so many families. Thank you to Kim Jong-un.” A White House statement earlier said: "We are encouraged by North Korea's actions and the momentum for positive change."

A US military transport plane flew to an airfield in North Korea's northeastern city of Wonsan to bring the remains to Osan air base in South Korea, the White House statement said. Soldiers in dress uniforms with white gloves were seen slowly carrying 55 small cases covered with the blue-and-white U.N. insignia, placing them one by one into silver vans waiting on the tarmac in Osan. Straight-backed officers looked on next to the flags of the United States, South Korea and the United Nations. A formal repatriation ceremony would be held at Osan on Wednesday, the White House said.

The remains would then be flown to Hawaii for further processing under the US Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the U.N. Command said in a statement. More than 7,700 US troops who fought in the Korean War remain unaccounted for, with about 5,300 of those lost in what is now North Korea. Before Friday's transfer of remains, the United States and North Korea had worked on so-called joint field activities to recover Korean War remains from 1996-2005. Washington halted those operations, citing concerns about the safety of its personnel as Pyongyang stepped up its nuclear programme. More than 400 caskets of remains found in North Korea were returned to the United States between the 1990s and 2005, with the bodies of some 330 other Americans also accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Two Joseon Dynasty-era royal seals which were repatriated last July from the U.S. after being illegally taken out by an American soldier during the Korean War, are on exhibit at the National Palace Museum of Korea.