Who were the thieves who stole Admiral Yi Sun-sin's "Nanjung Ilgi"?

The episode of SBS's "Tails of Tales" broadcast on November 5 spotlighted the day Korea almost lost its precious treasure under the subtitle "The Thieves: The Theft of Nanjung Ilgi."

On December 31, 1967, national treasures vanished from Hyeonchungsa Shrine. Korea's National Treasure No. 76—Admiral Yi Sun-sin's "Nanjung Ilgi," "Imjin Jangcho," and "Seogancheop"—had disappeared.

President Park Chung-hee held deep respect for Admiral Yi Sun-sin. In response, police across the nation went on high alert.

However, heavy snowfall overnight had wiped away footprints, and because the culprit wore wool gloves, no fingerprints were left behind, making tracking the culprit far from easy.

The police pursued suspects from multiple angles. Despite these efforts, however, they failed to find the culprit.

That was when the president issued a special address. He warned that if the culprit did not turn themselves in within 10 days, all investigative agencies would be mobilized to arrest and severely punish them. Because it was unprecedented for a head of state to order the capture of thieves, police nationwide were thrown into an uproar.

Acting on a tip, the police arrested a suspect in Busan, a mounting shop owner identified as Mr. Kang. However, "Nanjung Ilgi" had already vanished. The suspect claimed he had handed it over to a middleman.

Cultural property crimes were specialized offenses, with everything handled through middlemen. The police then pursued the middleman identified by Kang, a man residing in Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, known as 'Matross Park.'

Having traded stolen goods while traveling back and forth to Japan, he was planning to smuggle "Nanjung Ilgi" to Japan. But he did not have "Nanjung Ilgi" either. He had already passed it on to someone else.

After relentless pursuit, the police successfully recovered the national treasures, including "Nanjung Ilgi," at the home of another accomplice. However, they claimed that they had merely stored the items rather than stolen them, insisting the real thief was someone else.

Then, a man surnamed Kim, who surrendered after seeing the president's special address, stated that he had almost become the thief who stole "Nanjung Ilgi." He then exposed the mastermind behind the incident and the thief who had scouted Hyeonchungsa Shrine with him.

The mastermind, referred to as 'Teacher Yoo,' planned the theft of "Nanjung Ilgi" for money, assigning separate roles to accomplices while keeping them unaware of one another's existence. In the end, however, he was arrested.

The thieves sparked national outrage. Yet Teacher Yoo, the mastermind, brazenly said, "I felt so proud once I had the national treasure in my hands."

Investigations revealed that he already had a criminal record of stealing and trafficking numerous treasures. Furthermore, his accomplice, referred to as 'Player Jung,' who had worked closely with him for a year, drew attention after taking his own life amid the release of the president's address.

A detective who had endured persecution during the Japanese colonial period shared that he cried tears of relief upon catching the treasure thieves, unable to hide his emotional swell even now when recalling that time.

The descendant of Admiral Yi, who had even been treated as a suspect at the time, expressed relief after "Nanjung Ilgi" was recovered, saying, "It feels as though I have regained my lost life."

A citizen detective was rewarded and the police officers who apprehended the culprits received special promotions following the "Nanjung Ilgi" theft case. However, it left a sense of regret when Teacher Yoo, the mastermind, received only five years in prison, while other accomplices were sentenced to prison terms such as three years. The court took into consideration that all the treasures had been recovered and that the defendants showed remorse.

Far from showing remorse, however, Teacher Yoo was later caught committing similar crimes again. In particular, he sold the 'Guguk Jemin' plaque by Chusa Kim Jeong-hui to an antique dealer for 300,000 won, and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day, drawing further sorrow.

Teacher Yoo, who was caught attempting to smuggle Korea's treasures to Japan, provoked viewers' anger to the very end by stating, "I am satisfied simply by touching and reading the noble cultural heritage created by our ancestors. I have no regrets about the crime."

Following the "Nanjung Ilgi" theft case, the government established the Cultural Heritage Appraisal Office to prevent the illegal export of cultural heritage overseas and enacted the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. And the treasure thus protected was designated as World Cultural Heritage.ITZY HYOJUNG Zico 

(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Hyo-jung)