By Kim Jae-won
The National Tax Service (NTS) revealed Thursday that it has seized 23 pieces of top-drawer art, collectively worth hundreds of millions of won, from 30 individuals whose unpaid taxes accounted for up to 8.8 billion won ($8 million).
The list includes masterpieces from 19th century Joseon Kingdom painter Jang Seung-eop and contemporary artists like Japan’s Hiroto Kitagawa, Britain’s Damien Hirst and France’s Jean Baptiste Vuillaume.
Tax authorities are also tracing the whereabouts of a Hirst painting, titled “Butyric Anhydride,” and a cello designed by Vuillaume, which are worth more than 120 million won each in the market, they said.
While the NTS didn’t unveil the names of the owners of the art works who owe tax, it did unveil some of the stories behind its capture of the pieces.