Yoo Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea, will step down over a controversy involving the display and verification of an item from his personal collection. Critics say the museum — which drew more than 6.5 million visitors last year to become the world's third-most-visited museum — has suffered damage to its credibility because of its director's improper conduct.
Yoo announced his resignation in a press release on Oct. 21, saying he had "concluded that stepping down from the director's post is the right thing to do in order to restore the museum's damaged honor." He added that "the deep trust the public has placed in the National Museum of Korea and the value built up by our staff collapsed in an instant because of my personal mistake," and that "all of the criticism to date is entirely my responsibility."
The item at the center of the controversy is a piece of calligraphy reading "ilbansigugeun" (一飯是國恩), featured in the special exhibition "Our Dining Table," which opened in July. The phrase, meaning "even a single bowl of rice is a blessing from the nation," is originally attributed to the monk Yeonggyu, who led a civilian militia during the Japanese invasions of Korea in the 1590s.
The museum initially presented the work as calligraphy by Park Won-geun (1912-1950), an independence activist, but concluded after an outside tip that it was written by Park Joong-yang (1874-1959), a pro-Japanese collaborator. The controversy widened when it emerged that Yoo had appraised and recommended the piece for the exhibition himself, about two months before it opened, after buying it for 50,000 won in an online auction in 2019. It is said to be the first time in the museum's 80-year history that an exhibited item has been found to be falsely attributed and removed.
Yoo apologized but refused to resign during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 19th, where opposition lawmakers pressed him. He appears to have offered his resignation two days later as calls for accountability mounted within and beyond the cultural sector.
Yoo is an art historian who became widely known for his bestselling book "My Exploration of Cultural Heritage." He served as head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, now the Korea Heritage Service, from 2004 to 2008 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. He remained active in progressive circles and emerged as a key cultural policy strategist for the Lee Jae-myung administration after taking over in May last year as chair of the K-Culture Powerhouse Committee, a body under the election campaign committee of Lee Jae-myung, then the Democratic Party's candidate in the 21st presidential election.
After the government took office, Yoo said he had turned down an offer to serve as minister of culture, sports and tourism. He was appointed director of the National Museum of Korea, a vice-ministerial post, in July last year and pursued a range of reforms and initiatives. The museum's visitor numbers — 6.5 million last year and projected to exceed 7 million this year — are counted among his main achievements.
This is the second time Yoo has resigned from a public post related to cultural heritage to take responsibility. In 2008, he submitted his resignation as head of the Cultural Heritage Administration over his oversight responsibility after a fire destroyed Namdaemun, a National Treasure. He also faced criticism at the time over a trip abroad after it emerged that he had been on a business trip to Europe with his spouse.