National museum chief offers to resign over misattributed work from private collection
You Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea, offered to resign Wednesday amid a controversy over the museum's display of a misattributed calligraphic work from his private collection. He came under fire after the piece, written by a prominent pro-Japanese collaborator during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, was wrongly introduced as the work of a Korean independence activist…
You Hong-june, the director of the National Museum of Korea, announced on Wednesday that he intended to resign over a controversy surrounding a calligraphic work from his private collection that was misattributed in the museum's display. The artwork, created by a pro-Japanese collaborator during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-45), was inaccurately presented as the work of a Korean independence activist.
The museum subsequently removed the piece from its ongoing special exhibition following the backlash. In a statement to reporters, You expressed his belief that he should step down in order to restore the museum's damaged reputation. He acknowledged that the public's deep trust in the National Museum of Korea and the staff's hard-earned credibility had been shattered due to his personal error.
You, a respected art historian and author of the popular book series "My Exploration of Cultural Heritage," issued two apologies and bowed before lawmakers during a parliamentary audit on Monday. Despite these apologies, calls for his resignation persisted.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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