[Anchor]
Controversy erupted after National Museum of Korea Director Yoo Hong-jun mistakenly exhibited calligraphy by a pro-Japanese collaborator from his personal collection as the work of an independence activist. At a parliamentary audit yesterday (October 19), Director Yoo repeatedly bowed his head, calling it a "grave oversight," but dodged direct answers to mounting calls for his resignation.
Reporter Park Jae-yeon reports.
[Reporter]
[SBS 8 News (August 13): As the nation's premier authoritative institution, it seems difficult to avoid criticism for losing face due to poor artifact verification.]
This is the calligraphy that was exhibited at the National Museum of Korea in July as the work of patriot Park Won-geun, only to be revealed as the calligraphy of pro-Japanese collaborator Park Jung-yang following an SBS report in August.
At the time, National Museum Director Yoo Hong-jun issued a public apology, stating only that the museum's fact-checking had been inadequate, but it was recently further revealed that the calligraphy was none other than Director Yoo's personal possession.
At the parliamentary audit yesterday, Director Yoo apologized, calling it a "grave oversight."
[Yoo Hong-jun / Director of the National Museum of Korea: The value built up by the efforts of the museum's staff collapsed in an instant due to my grave oversight.]
The People Power Party demanded his resignation, questioning whether an apology was enough, but Director Yoo avoided giving a direct answer.
[Kim Seok-ki / People Power Party Lawmaker: For our director to step down cleanly (would be the proper conduct...).]
[Yoo Hong-jun / Director of the National Museum of Korea: So that such a mistake will never happen again...]
[Yoon Yong-geun / People Power Party Lawmaker: Is that enough to fulfill your responsibility?]
[Yoo Hong-jun / Director of the National Museum of Korea: I believe we must overhaul the system again.]
Criticism also mounted from the Democratic Party, with questions such as "Why did you conceal that you were the owner?" and "Was the internal verification flawed precisely because it was the director's personal collection?"
[Choi Min-hee / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Why didn't you disclose that you were the owner?]
[Yoo Hong-jun / Director of the National Museum of Korea: As an art historian, I hesitated to make it public that I had made such a major mistake.]
[Lee Jeong-mun / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Was it because of special treatment that such things were ignored and omitted like this?]
[Yoo Hong-jun / Director of the National Museum of Korea: It was decided by the planning team and the people advising them...]
Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties lamented in unison that the recently elevated stature of the National Museum of Korea has suffered a major blow due to this incident.
(Video by Oh Young-choon and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Oh Young-taek)
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