‘한일회담 외교문서’로 본 한·일 간 문화재 반환 교섭

Negotiations over the Return of Cultural Properties - Focusing on Analysing the Diplomatic Documents of Korea-Japan Conferences

This paper seeks to examine the two governments negotiations over the return of Korean cultural properties in Japan based on analysing diplomatic documents relating to the Korea-Japan Cultural Property Agreement of 1965. The key point raised in this paper is that Japan s negative aspects or ambiguous attitudes towards the return of the Korean cultural properties are rooted in the implication of domestic politics. Such a Japan s political reaction is particularly determinated by interactions between the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). These political actors possess their perceptions of individual and national interests which may both conform to conflict with the pressures arising from the structure of domestic politics. At the same time, the historical legacy of colonialism was reinforced by the nature of Japan s limited negotiations over the return of Korean cultural properties in the process of de-colonization. Thus, without handling Japan s domestic politics and its legacy of colonialism, Seoul-Tokyo negotiations over the return of Korean cultural properties in Japan will be clearly problematic.