Colonial Plunder and the Failure of Restitution in Postwar Korea

Bibliographic Data

ID10075744
AuthorsChristine Kim (0000-0002-1424-4263, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume52
Issue3
Pages607-624
Publication date2017-02-24
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022009417692410
OpenAlexW2590441917
LanguageEN
Citations received4

This article evaluates the US ‘Monuments Men’ operations in Korea, focusing on wartime and postwar efforts undertaken by the government of the USA to preserve and restore artwork seized by Japan. The Asian initiative, conceived a year after the European model was established, likewise drew upon cultural, intellectual, and academic resources. Yet fundamental differences in personnel, perceptions of Korean cultural backwardness, prevailing imperialist attitudes, and Cold War sensibilities rendered a very different kind of project. Ultimately the ‘Monuments Men’ succeeded primarily in preserving the cultural patrimony of Japan, but it failed to recover any plundered objects from Korea, or the rest of Asia for that matter. Focusing on the US deliberations regarding repatriation of Korean looted art, this article lays bare both the US preoccupation with maintaining the national interests of its newest ally, and exposes an understanding of East Asian cultural hierarchy that privileged Japan’s artistic achievement and modern society above all

Backwardness · Colonialism · Economic growth · Government (linguistics · Hierarchy · Political economy · Political science · Repatriation · Restitution · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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