Fake NK Paintings in Wide Circulation

Lee Jong-ha, an expert on North Korean paintings, talks about artwork from the North in front of an example at a gallery in Beijing.

/ Korea Times Photo by Sunny Lee

By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent

BEIJING ― If you are one of the increasing numbers of people on the planet ― many in South Korea ― who in recent years purchased a North Korean painting and felt euphoric about your proprietorship of a rare artifact from the world's most reclusive country, think again.

It's likely that your "rare" North Korean painting is, after all, not that rare. In fact, there may be a number of other people out there who also own the same painting with the same title by the same painter. In a worse and even stranger case, even though the painting was straight from North Korea and was certified as being "authentic" by connoisseurs, the painter himself may give it a glance and say, "Sorry, that's not my painting."

It happened in 2000. A South Korean daily was able to reach a rare deal with North Korea to hold an exhibition of the works of the famed North Korean painter Jung Chang-mo, born in 1931.

Jung himself was scheduled to show up at the opening ceremony of the exhibition in Seoul, which was made possible because the North agreed to hold family reunions of people who had been separated since the Korean War and Jung was one of the 200 North Koreans who were selected by the North's authorities to visit South Korea.

But on Aug. 16, on the very day when Jung's exhibition was to be unveiled, the newspaper ran a notice, cancelling the event.

"The exhibition was 'permanently postponed' because the painter, Jung, raised questions on the authenticity of his paintings," it said.

The artworks were all from North Korea. But when Jung took a look at them the day before the display, he found out some of them were not actually his.

The incident remains the most publicized case of the authenticity problem surrounding North Korean art that still remains today.

"North Korean paintings have never been free from authenticity disputes," said Lee Jong-ha, an expert on the subject who shuttles between Seoul and Beijing. "The reason is plain and simple. There is a lack of transparency in how the paintings are made and distributed."

When the South Korean government lifted a ban on the sales and distribution of North Korean paintings in 1998, the southerners' curiosity in the North's art surged.

With increasing demands, many works found their way into the hands of South Korean collectors through various channels, notably via China. And galleries in South Korea competed to hold exhibitions.

Soon, it became a fanciful thing among art collectors in South Korea to have a piece or two of North Korean art. A work by a well-known painter such as Jung's was sold at a minimum of 10 million won ($8,800) apiece.

For cash-strapped North Korea, suffering from a moribund economy, the paintings were more than a piece of art. They also turned out to be a new cash cow. And as in any greedy business, the reputation of the North Korean art market became tainted, as counterfeit and duplicate products started to surface.

Experts believe that most of the spurious acts were actually made inside North Korea. Sometimes the painters themselves were not free from blame either.

"In Jung's case, people later determined that the paintings were actually authentic products by Jung," said Lee. "Then, the question is why would Jung deny that?"

North Korea sells hundreds of paintings by its artists, including those who work for the state's Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang each year to galleries in China - a de facto gateway for North Korea to reach the outside world. The paintings then are sold to South Koreans and other collectors.

But besides the official export quantity of paintings, there are also "unofficial" paintings, entrusted privately by some artists to North Korean merchants who share the profit with the painters after selling them on the black market.

"Of course, the sales of these paintings go unreported," said Lee. "In North Korea, an artist's paintings are state property. So, when an artist's paintings are displayed in countries and if they were illegally sold paintings, the painter will be in a position to deny that it's his works."

With the rising popularity of North Korean paintings in South Korea, North Korea sometimes produced low-quality paintings en masse. A few years back, North Korea did some trade with a major South Korean company. Lacking sufficient cash, North Koreans proposed they would make up the payment in arts products. The South Korean company accepted the offer.

"I was called in by the company to examine the value of the paintings. It was a huge container. Inside it was full of paintings. But the quality was all poor.

"I suggested the company burn them all, fearing that if they entered the art market, it would cause disruption with such a huge volume when many people cannot tell their values," Lee said.

Last April, Lee had a chance to meet with another renowned North Korean painter, Sun Woo-young, in China. When asked about the situation, Sun also reportedly told Lee that only 11 out of 150 paintings, put on sale in South Korea, were authentic.

North Koreans acknowledge that there are forged or duplicate paintings circulating, but insist that they are done in China by Chinese painters. But Lee believes that most forgeries are done within North Korea.

"Chinese counterfeit painters prefer to copy famous Chinese paintings, not North Korean paintings, because selling Chinese paintings can make more money," Lee said.

The official gallery Web site of the Mansudae Art Studio also recognizes the controversy surrounding the North Korean paintings. On the section of the "Frequently Asked Questions," one question is: "How do I know the works are original?"

The authenticity debate also comes amid North Korean art's increasing popularity overseas. In recent years, the North held art exhibitions in a number of countries, including the U.K., Germany, Italy, the U.S. and Australia, receiving favorable reviews.

Lee said for North Korean paintings to be recognized internationally, the transparency of their authorship, distribution and authenticity should be strengthened.

"If quality control is not maintained, selling North Korean paintings the way they do now is like shooting one's own foot. It will come back to get you."

sunny.lee@koreatimes.co.kr