Officials inside the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation raised concerns about the appraisal process and whether the price was appropriate as Gyeonggi Province moved to buy calligraphy by independence activist Ahn Jung-geun, according to records reviewed by The Seoul Economic Daily. The province initially weighed tapping the foundation's endowment to secure two pieces, then bought one by channeling a provincial subsidy through the Gyeonggi chapter of the Heritage of Korean Independence. Critics say it remains unclear how the concerns were addressed and on what basis the price was set.
Gyeonggi Province pursued the purchase of two works by Ahn — "Jangtan Ilseong Seonjo Ilbon," or "A Long Sigh, Mourning Japan in Advance," and "Independence" — to mark the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation last year, according to political and arts sources on the 21st. The province first discussed acquiring both pieces through the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, but foundation officials raised questions about the appraisal process and the appropriateness of the price.
At the foundation's 147th board meeting in June last year, members debated whether it was appropriate to spend a large sum of foundation assets on the calligraphy without sufficient verification. "There are also questions about the calligraphic style, the signature cycle markings and the spacing," one participant said at the meeting. "It cannot come out later that we bought such important calligraphy with foundation money without even a second appraisal or a proper academic review."
Questions were also raised about whether appraisers had examined the works in person. Another foundation official said of the appraisal document that "it reads as if they appraised it from photographs rather than seeing the actual piece." Some participants said the process for selecting the appraisers should be scrutinized as well. These were concerns voiced by participants at the time, and the actual appraisal process and the appropriateness of the procedures have not been separately verified.
The price also became a point of contention. Foundation officials cited cases such as another Ahn calligraphy that sold at auction for 900 million won and questioned whether the planned purchase price was reasonable. Participants also said the board meeting was closed to the public and that attendees were asked to sign confidentiality pledges.
The province pressed ahead with the purchase even as those concerns were being raised internally. The original plan covered two works at 4 billion won each, or 8 billion won in total. To fund it, the province considered drawing on the foundation's endowment, which carries restrictions on its use. A division-level official who headed the province's culture, sports and tourism bureau at the time said then-Governor Kim Dong-yeon had expressed a desire to buy the calligraphy, even by traveling to Japan himself. "If there is a problem, I have no intention of avoiding responsibility either," the official said.
When the purchase through the foundation fell through, the province instead funded the project by granting a subsidy to the Gyeonggi chapter of the Heritage of Korean Independence. The chapter received 2.4 billion won in provincial funds and bought "Jangtan Ilseong Seonjo Ilbon." The companion purchase of "Independence" did not materialize because negotiations with the Japanese side made no progress. How the project shifted from the endowment plan to the subsidy route, and what was considered along the way, also requires confirmation.
Further checks are needed on how the price for the acquired work was calculated, critics say. Hwaseong had earlier weighed buying the same piece for around 1 billion won, and while the work was initially described as coming from a Japanese collector, the actual seller was a collector in South Korea. The amount that collector paid to obtain the work in Japan has not been disclosed. Experts said, however, that these circumstances alone do not establish that the purchase price was improper, and that the pricing process and appraisal materials need to be examined as a whole.
The province maintains that it judged the work authentic after expert appraisals and consultations. In December last year, after the purchase, it held an academic forum at the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum to present analyses of the calligraphic style and a palm print seal on the work. Separate from the question of authenticity, the standards and procedures behind the final price, and how the concerns raised by foundation officials were weighed in the decision, remain matters to be examined.
Figures in the arts community say the case points to a need to review appraisal and verification procedures when public institutions acquire artifacts. Scrutiny of verification practices intensified recently after calligraphy privately held by Yoo Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea, was identified as the work of a pro-Japanese collaborator. Yoo offered to resign.
Gyeonggi Gov. Choo Mi-ae has ordered an investigation into how the Ahn calligraphy was acquired and how the budget was spent. The inquiry is expected to focus on whether concerns about authenticity were adequately reviewed, what basis was used to set the final price, and why the project was changed from using the foundation's endowment to providing a provincial subsidy.