A National Museum of Korea special exhibition, “The Museum and The War: Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War” (June 25-September 13, 2020), recalls unwavering commitment to relocate and safeguard cultural treasures. Here, the writer describes the efforts of her father – who was the museum’s first director – as well as museum employees and U.S. personnel.
Human lives are not the only casualties of war; important cultural assets and priceless artworks also fall victim. They are destroyed and pillaged intentionally because the obliteration of a culture is tantamount to the erasure of a nation’s identity. This was evident across wartime Europe, as Nazi Germany systematically looted not only artworks and artifacts but historical s and books as well. An estimated 250,000 pieces of art alone were taken away. After the war, the plundering was included among the charges levied against war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.
A year after the Nuremberg trials and subsequent proceedings ended, the fratricidal tragedy of the Korean War began. Once again, a nation’s cultural gems were targeted: the North Korean army intended to pillage cultural assets in the South. But the collection of the National Museum of Korea survived, thanks to a Herculean endeavor that moved the pieces to the provisional capital, Busan. However, these valiant efforts remain largely unsung.
This 1952 photo shows the National Museum staff conducting a meeting at the temporary museum building in Busan, the wartime provisional capital. Dr. Kim Chewon, the museum’s first director, is seen at the center (sixth from left). © National Museum of Korea
A 1915 photograph of Gyeongbok Palace features a Western-style structure, built by the Japanese colonial government after removing many palace buildings. It housed the Museum of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, predecessor of the National Museum of Korea. To the right are some remaining palace structures and the east gate, Geonchunmun, and on the lower left is the cloister of the throne hall, Geunjeongjeon. © National Museum of Korea
Collection in Peril
Kim Chewon (a.k.a. Kim Jae-won; 1909-1990), the first director of the National Museum, was instrumental in safeguarding South Korea’s national treasures and artifacts. Kim had watched the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1920s and 1930s as a student at the University of Munich. After a stint as research assistant to archaeologist and sinologist Professor Carl Hentze at Ghent University in Belgium, Kim returned to Korea in 1940 and taught German at Bosung College (now Korea University).
After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in August 1945, the U.S. Military Government began to search for someone to head the National Museum of Korea, formerly the Museum of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. The search ended with the archaeologist who had studied in Germany. In December 1945, Kim was appointed as the museum’s first director, a position in which he would serve until February 1970.
The National Museum of Korea occupied a Western-style structure on the grounds of Gyeongbok Palace. On the fateful day of June 25, 1950, when North Korean forces invaded the South and bore down on Seoul, the museum was still in the process of being reorganized. Three days later, the North Korean national flag fluttered over the museum and one of the employees shouted for the overthrow of President Syngman Rhee. Kim hid in an acquaintance’s house as North Korean troops hunted down key figures.
The North Koreans marked the National Museum’s collection and the possessions of Chun Hyung-pil (1906-1962), founder of the Kansong Art Museum, for relocation to Pyongyang. They ordered the museum staff to pack up the most prominent s and move them to Deoksu Palace on the other side of the downtown area. The staff tried to stall by making up excuses, such as a lack of wrapping paper or materials to make crates, but eventually completed packing. The tide of the war turned, however, and on September 28, UN forces rolled into Seoul, finding the cultural treasures intact. The North Koreans had completely filled their trucks in their retreat, with no room spared for their captured trove. Gyeongbok Palace, meanwhile, suffered extensive damage from bombings, as did the buildings that had housed the museum’s collection.
Kim Chewon (right) and Eugene I. Knez, who served as director of the U.S. Information Service in Busan during the Korean War. Knez privately arranged safe transport of the museum’s collection to Busan. © National Museum of Korea
Clandestine Operation
After recapturing Seoul, the South Korean army and UN forces advanced rapidly northward. However, Chinese troops entered the war and pushed the allied forces back. Watching scores of U.S. tanks retreating, Kim realized the gravity of the situation. He told Paek Nak-chun, the minister of culture and education, “We need to evacuate the museum’s collection to Busan since the war hasn’t yet reached the southernmost city.” Kim thought that if the cultural assets fell into the hands of the North a second time, it would be impossible to recover them. Paek agreed and wrote a letter of approval in English to maintain confidentiality. But the next step was daunting.
Arranging transportation for hundreds of museum crates seemed nearly impossible. There was a dire shortage of vehicles even for moving troops and refugees. Eugene I. Knez (1916-2010), an anthropologist who was serving as director of the U.S. Information Service in Busan, came to the rescue. The urgency of the situation motivated him to bypass the formalities of obtaining the approval of U.S. Ambassador John J. Muccio. Aware that the freight trains carrying munitions usually returned to Busan empty, Knez persuaded an American officer in charge and managed to secure one of the trains. The U.S. Army Transportation Corps provided the trucks to transport the museum pieces to Seoul Station.
On December 6, Kim reported to Minister Paek on his departure for Busan; his party of 16, including museum executives and their families, boarded the freight train. The operation had to be carried out covertly, and the train had to stop at stations for several hours. The trip, which would take only two and a half hours today, took four days. A month later, on January 4, 1951, the North Korean army seized Seoul once again.
President Syngman Rhee was well aware of the importance of the nation’s cultural heritage. Seeking a contingency plan to move the evacuated cultural properties in Busan to an overseas location, Rhee turned to the United States. But the U.S. State Department, worried about potentially becoming embroiled in malicious propaganda that the United States had looted the artifacts, recommended Japan instead. This was a solution that Rhee could not accept. Fortunately, South Korean and UN forces reclaimed Seoul again in March 1951 and kept the North Korean and Chinese forces far from Busan throughout the rest of the war.
Although the discussion on relocating the cultural treasures petered out, the U.S. position was not entirely hands-off. In July 1950, just weeks into the war, President Rhee ordered Colonel Kim Il-hwan of the Ministry of National Defense to send 139 important cultural s, including the Silla gold crowns that had been housed at the National Museum’s Gyeongju branch, and the Bank of Korea’s gold bullions to the Bank of America in San Francisco to be stored in its vault. These artifacts were later included in the exhibition “Masterpieces of Korean Art,” which toured eight American cities during 1957-58; thereafter, they were safely repatriated to Korea in 1959.
The murals were among a total of 18,883 National Museum s that were packed into 430 crates and relocated. Through the dedicated efforts of many individuals, the museum’s collection was spared the ravages of war.
The catalogue of “Masterpieces of Korean Art,” the first overseas exhibition of Korea’s cultural assets. The exhibition toured eight U.S. cities during 1957-58, showing the world that Korea was making a strong recovery from the ravages of war. The photograph in the catalogue is of the gold crown from Seobongchong (Auspicious Phoenix Tomb) in Gyeongju, Treasure No. 339. © National Museum of Korea
“Mural Painting of Pranidhi Scene,” mud, 145 × 57 cm. National Museum of Korea. One of the Pranidhi (“promise” in Sanskrit) scene murals excavated from Cave 15 of the Bezeklik Caves, a complex of Buddhist grottoes in Turpan, China, dating back to the fifth to 14th centuries. It features Sakyamuni in a previous life, holding blue flowers in both hands. © National Museum of Korea
Unflagging Commitment
More than a few pieces in the National Museum’s collection had to be left behind in Seoul. However, particularly weighing on Kim as he resettled in Busan were some 60 murals from Central Asia. A Japanese patron of archaeological expeditions to Central Asia had donated the murals to the Museum of the Japanese Government-General of Korea during the colonial period. The murals, painted on earthen walls, were too heavy and thick to move to Busan.
A similar situation had occurred at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, which also owned Central Asian murals. When World War II erupted, the murals could not be transported alongside other exhibits to a safe location; consequently, around 30 percent of them ended up being destroyed. The person in charge is said to have taken his own life.
Kim and a few other museum employees returned to Seoul in April and May 1951. Amid a spring offensive by Chinese forces and the accompanying roars of artillery, they managed to enter the museum, pack the murals and transport them safely to Busan. At the request of Knez, Colonel Charles R. Munske helped with the packaging and transport of the murals to Seoul Station. They were among a total of 18,883 National Museum s that were packed into 430 crates and relocated. Through the dedicated efforts of many individuals, the museum’s collection was spared the ravages of war.
Even during the tumultuous aftermath of the war, the National Museum did not neglect its role of excavation and exhibition. The museum’s collection returned to Seoul and was placed in Seokjojeon (Pavilion of Stone), Korea’s first European-style stone building, at Deoksu Palace. In 1955, the museum reopened to the public.
I was a war baby, the youngest daughter of Kim Chewon, born after my family had taken refuge in Busan. I don’t remember much about my childhood in the wartime capital, but whenever I looked around the exhibition halls during my five-year tenure as director of the National Museum (2011-2016), I couldn’t help but think what a gargantuan undertaking it must have been to protect the cultural assets there under life-threatening circumstances. What made it all possible was the leadership of a person with international experience, foreign language proficiency, quick judgment and a strong sense of duty. Just as essential were the courageous staff who risked their lives to guard the museum’s collection, and also those who, regardless of nationality, willingly lent a helping hand with a deep respect for cultural heritage.
An exhibition hall of the National Museum, which relocated to Seokjojeon (Pavilion of Stone) at Deoksu Palace after the Korean War ended and reopened to the public in 1955. © National Museum of Korea
한국국제교류재단
