Lost cultural assets

By Lee Eun-jeong

There are approximately 76,000 Korean cultural assets overseas. The country with most of our assets is Japan, followed by other countries such as France. This is a major concern because the countries possessing them are refusing to give them back, even though the original owners are asking for their return. Is there no way to get them back? In my opinion, we can take them back by gathering the interest of citizens, and making it easier to participate in a campaign.

However, Koreans today are often unconcerned with this issue. It is hard for ordinary students and workers to take part in solving the problem. However, according to an article I read, most of the assets that have been returned to Korea were by the efforts of citizens. This shows that citizens’ concern is very important in accomplishing this goal. On top of that, there's hope that ordinary people joining forces can create massive change in the future in gathering our cultural assets, just like it did in the past.

To achieve this, one should advertise. For example, putting pamphlets in museums could be effective because people who are interested in culture often go to museums. Moreover, we could advertise on television programs that are about cultural properties. In addition, people who already acknowledge the problem could take part in protests to inform people about the true situation.

Celebrities could be hired to help advertise, which would be more adequate to gain the interest from teenagers. The education system should teach about this matter as well. I have gone to school in Korea and never learned about this.

It is true that most people do not know or care about this matter, and it is also true that students might not like to learn about cultural things. To solve this problem, one could make fun video clips for children and students to show them at school.

Web sites with culture related games could be made as well. In an era where many young people enjoy computer games, this could also be an efficient way to enlighten the public about our cultural assets abroad.

Second, we could make it easier to be involved in the collection of our lost treasures. We could make Web sites so that ordinary people can have easier access to information. People could also join in that kind of activities using their cell phones. It is important to participate, but most people feel stressed when thinking about it. In short, why is it important to get people engaged? It could create enormous change and have long lasting effects. Second, we should guide people towards this issue by advertising and educating. Last but not least, we should make it easier for one to participate by creating Web sites. Cultural assets were made through our ancestors’ blood and efforts. Shamefully, we failed to protect them and they were stolen. We should do our best to get them back, and represent the great heritages of our country with pride.

Lee Eun-jeong is a senior student attending Sunjoo Middle High School in Gumi City, North Gyeongsang Province.