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외세 침략과 일제강점기, 동족상잔의 비극인 한국전쟁 등 한국이 격변의 역사를 겪는 동안, 약탈과 도굴을 통해 해외에 유출된 문화재는 17만여 점에 이른다. 이국 땅에서 고국으로 돌아갈 날만을 기다리고 있는 문화재 환수를 위해서 남북이 함께 노력해서 결실을 맺은 사례가 있다.

1905년 러일전쟁 당시 일본군에 의해 일본으로 반출된 지 100년 만에 고국으로 돌아온 ‘북관대첩비 환수’ 과정을 따라가 본다.

1905년 일본군에 의해 반출된 북관대첩비

임진왜란 승전 기념비인 북관대첩비는 1905년 일본군에 의해 반출된 뒤 행방이 묘연했다. 북관대첩비가 다시 역사 속에 등장한 것은 1978년.

재일사학자, 최서면 박사에 의해 야스쿠니 신사에 있다는 사실이 알려지면서 반환운동이 전개됐다. 계속된 노력에도 북관대첩비를 반환하지 않았던 야스쿠니 신사는 2004년, 한국과 일본의 NGO 40개 단체가북관대첩비 환국을 위한 범민족운동본부를 발족해서 힘을 모으자 진전된 입장을 보였다.

2005년 10월 12일, 북관대첩비 반환 합의

2005년 3월 1일. 한일불교복지협회 대표와 야스쿠니신사 최고 책임자가 만나북관대첩비 반환 문제를 논의했고, 야스쿠니 신사는 ‘북한과의 합의가 있으면 반환하겠다’는 입장을 밝혔다. 27년간의 반환 운동 끝에 민간 단체가 이 같은 약속을 받자 한국 정부는 북한에 회담을 제의했다.

당시 남북 관계는 2004년 김일성 주석 조문 문제와 북핵 문제 등으로 경색됐다. 하지만 2005년 4월 23일, 인도네시아에서 2000년 정상회담 이후 5년 만에 양측 최고위급이 북관대첩비 환수를 매개로 대화의 물꼬를 텄고, 이어 북관대첩비 회담을 추진하기로 합의했다.

이처럼 남과 북이 북관대첩비 환수에 뜻을 모으자 2005년 10월 12일. 북관대첩비 반환이 합의됐다.

2016 3.1절 아침, 군사분계선을 넘어

본래 있던 함경북도 개성으로 인도돼 일제가 약탈해간 북관대첩비는 2005년 10월 20일 오후 4시 30분, 인천공항을 통해 고국 품으로 돌아왔다. 국립중앙박물관에 전시됐던 북관대첩비는 2005년 12월 16일, 제17차 남북장관급회담을 통해 원래 있던 자리로 돌아가게 됐고, 20016년 3.1절 아침, 서울을 떠난 북관대첩비는 군사분계선을 넘어 북측 땅으로 들어섰다. 북한 개성의 성균관 앞마당에서 남측 관계자 150여 명과 북측 관계자 50여 명이 참석한 가운데 북관대첩비 인도 인수식이 열렸다.

북한, 국보 유적 193호 지정

본래 자리인 함경북도 길주군. 현재의 김책시에 안치된 북관대첩비를 완전히 복원해서 북한의 국보유적 193호로 지정돼 있다. 남북협력사업의 결실로 해외 소재 한국문화재 반환과 관련된 분야에서 새로운 장을 연 북관대첩비의 귀환. 문화재 환수에서 처음 이루어낸 남북 협력의 사례가 앞으로도 이어져서 해외에 유출된 문화재들이 우리 곁으로 돌아오기 바란다.
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ⓒ KBS News

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http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/contents_view.htm?lang=e&menu_cate=history&id=&board_seq=348796

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Some 170-thousand pieces of cultural relics made their way overseas through looting and theft during tumultuous periods of Korean history such as foreign invasions, the Japanese colonial era, and the Korean War.  

Of this total, 66-thousand have been officially confirmed to be present in Japan. Today we recall an inter-Korean effort to return one of these cultural assets to its rightful place on the Korean peninsula.

The Bukgwan Victory Monument was taken to Japan by the military in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. In following the steps of how it was brought back to Korea after a century, we hear from Park Geun-mok, board chairman of the monument's memorial association who also served as head of a civic network dedicated to the asset's retrieval.

The Victory Monument was constructed in 1709 in the 33rd year of King Sukjong's reign in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province. It was erected to celebrate a victory against the Japanese invaders led by Jeong Mun-bu, general in the Korean army during the Japanese invasions of the Korean peninsula in the late sixteenth century. The monument is 187 centimeters high and 66 centimeters wide.

In 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War, a Japanese Army major of the Second Division who was stationed in this area took the monument to Japan as a war trophy. In Japan, a large rock weighing about one ton was laid on the monument so as to suppress the spirit of Korean resistance troops, a move inspired by Japanese superstition. The monument was left neglected at the Yasukuni Shrine until October 2005 when it finally returned to Korean soil through joint government and civic efforts in South Korea and also with North Korea’s cooperation. In March the following year, the monument was restored to its original location in Kilju, North Korea, after more than a century away.

The Bukgwan Victory Monument, which marks a triumphant battle in th e seven-year war against Japan in the late 16th century, was long thought lost by Korean historians and archeologists. But in 1978, the monument reemerged when Korean Japanese historian Dr. Choi Seo-myeon was able to confirm that it was kept at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. This sparked a movement to bring it back to Korea.

Japan was reluctant to return the monument, but eventually gave in when in 2004, some 40 NGO groups in South Korea and Japan launched an organization aimed at returning the monument to Korea

On March first, 2005, the president of a Korea-Japan Buddhist organization met with the top official at Yasukuni Shrine. After the discussion, the shrine announced that it will return the monument if an agreement is also reached with North Korea. Civic groups pried this commitment from Japan after 27 years of effort. The episode also facilitated another level of inter-Korean dialogue. Here is Mr. Park.

During the Asian-African Summit in Indonesia in April 2005, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan proposed talks on the issue to North Korea’s parliamentary leader Kim Yong-nam. Lee said that the civic sector has already done the majority of the work and a government agreement between the two Koreas is all that is necessary to bring back the monument. The North Korean official promised full cooperation, which led to renewed inter-Korean dialogue.

Inter-Korean relations were strained at the time due to the North’s nuclear provocation and disagreement over how to deal with the tenth anniversary of the passing of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in 2004. However, in spring the next year the two Koreas held high-level talks for the first time in five years since a summit in 2000. The agenda was retrieving the Bukgwan Victory Monument from Japan, which the two sides agreed to. As the Koreas came together, Japan then also agreed to return the monument in October that year.

Following the signing of an official agreement, the Yasukuni Shrine finally opened its doors and released the Korean monument, and its journey home began.

The Bukgwan Victory Monument arrived at Incheon International Airport at 4:30 p.m. on October 20th 2005. Under tight security, a ceremony was held to celebrate its arrival. Civic group officials, in tears, were moved at the sight of the returned monument as they looked back on their past efforts to make it come true. Park describes the scene.

It was beyond words. I felt so rewarded and so grateful that we could bring it back from the Japanese shrine. I still tear up thinking of that day. I see myself as part of a cultural army. Blood, sweat and tears were behind that achievement.  All of us who took part in the endeavor feel the same way.

After the emotional ceremony, the monument was taken to the National Museum of Korea. The two Koreas held ministerial talks in December that year and agreed to return the monument to its original site in North Korea's North Hamgyong Province.

The two sides agreed on further details of this plan during working-level talks in February 2006. During this meeting, the two Koreas also labeled the monument’s return as a cultural movement in the same spirit as the March first 1919 Independence Movement against colonial Japan. They agreed to send the monument to the North on March first in light of the day’s historical significance. Let's hear from Park about the monument crossing into the North.

On March first, a South Korean delegation of about 150 government officials and civic group members traveled to Gaeseong, North Korea carrying the monument. It was a historic event that saw something that was lost in Korean history restored through cross-border cooperation. It also made us realize the foundational framework of inter-Korean coexistence.

On March first, 2006, the monument left Seoul and crossed the border into North Korea. At 11 a.m., a ceremony was held in the North Korean border city of Gaeseong to mark the handover. In attendance were some 50 North Korean officials and some 150 officials from South Korea including Mr. Park.                      

The event led many people to believe there was no divided Korea when it came to retrieving cultural assets from Japan. It also left many to wonder what more can be done by the two Koreas if they work together.

Following the handover ceremony, the monument was transported to its original site in Kilju county, North Hamgyong Province. North Korea thereafter fully restored the monument and designated it as national treasure No. 193. Mr. Park has yet to see the monument standing at its original site but hopes to one day. With three summit talks held this year, the two Koreas could make concerted efforts again to bring back cultural properties that remain outside the peninsula.

I would love to visit North Korea. Politics are actively under way at the moment so us in the civic sector are just observing. All my efforts were for the sake of Korean unification. With the same determination, I have many plans in store to play a bridging role toward unification of the two Koreas.

The retrieval of the Bukgwan Victory Monument enabled through inter-Korean cooperation opened a new chapter in repatriation of Korean cultural relics from abroad. Hopefully this first incident of cross-border collaboration can lead to many more in the years to come so that more precious relics can make their way back to Korea.
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