Theft and damage to cultural assets have occurred continuously in Korea. “Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms),"Volume 2, which is the oldest historical document existing in Korea, was stolen from the owner's house in 1999. It was recovered seventeen years later in April 2016 after a looter tried to sell it over an online auction. Moreover, the National Treasure No. 238 of Korea, “Sowon hwagaecheop (Calligraphy by Prince Anpyeong)” was stolen in 2001, and “Seojangdae Command Post of the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon” was burnt in 2006, as well as Sungnyemun Gate, the National Treasure No. 1 of Korea, which was burnt down in 2008. Although it was revealed that the government had poor management for cultural assets, they still do not preserve them properly. Why are the cultural assets with history and tradition neglected?

Problems we have regarding our cultural assets can be divided into two parts. First is the problem of theft. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration’s statistics, 10,453 cultural assets were stolen from 2008 to 2014. Most of them are smuggled out of the country through internet auction sites such as “eBay.” Smugglers mostly try to smuggle cultural assets through the international delivery service. They try to sell them by using elaborate and premeditated methods as well as filing a false item and making false waybill to avoid a crackdown on the crime. Likewise, the reason why cultural properties are so easy to be smuggled out of the country is that clearance officers are not experts when it comes to cultural assets and they tend to focus on checking goods for aircraft safety. Besides, the registered airmail is hard to track due to an absence of the Electronic Transport Records. To stop these situations, the system needs to be updated to include periodic checkups and additional security. However, despite the increase case of theft of cultural assets, the anti-theft budget of cultural assets is steadily decreasing. The budget was cut back from 2.6 billion won in 2008 to 500 million won in 2015.

Furthermore, the lack of government’s restoration project about cultural properties is becoming a serious problem. One particular case is the restoration project of “Gyeongbokgung Palace.” Last April, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration, the colors on the signboards of the four palaces were reversed, including Gyeongbokgung Palace. For example, the background color of several signboards which were originally white was changed into black in the process of restoration. It includes the boards of “Youngchumun Gate,” the west gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, “Okhoru Pavilion,” where the Empress Myeongseong was killed, and “Hyangwonjung Pavilion,” which was built on the pond, and “Hyupgyeongdang Hall.” The background color of the signboards of other places such as Deoksugung Palace, Gwangmyeongmun Gate, Changdeokgung Palace, Seungjaejeong Pavilion and Yogeummun Gate were changed too. The signboards of Seonjeongjeon Hall of Changdeokgung Palace and Meongjeongjeon Hall of Changgyeonggung Palace were painted white, not gold.

Along with those, fire and damage to cultural assets inflicted by individuals are becoming a serious problem. In 2008, middle-school girls burned a field of reeds near Seobukgakru gazebo at the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress simply in order to find a cellphone. Also, Sungnyemun Gate was burnt down in an arson attack in the same year, and Haeinsa temple was covered with graffiti by individuals in 2014. These cases show us that domestic cultural assets have been neglected by both the local government and the individuals. 

Another reason for those occurrences to cultural heritage is partly because of the poor penalty policies on the crimes and the lack of government’s supervision on the cultural assets. First, the statute of limitations for theft of cultural assets is only 10 years. The value of cultural assets increases over time unlike generic items. For this reason, it is difficult to punish these criminals and recover the cultural assets because they steal cultural assets and hide them. Once the statute of limitations has expired, they then distribute the items. To prevent crimes related to cultural assets, the government needs to extend the existing statute of limitations concerning the theft of cultural assets. In the 2012 inspection of the Cultural Heritage Administration, regarding the cause of frequent damage problems, many civil groups, such as “The Good Law,” pointed out cultural assets’ low rate of fire insurance, the absence of crisis management against natural disasters, the lack of manual, the decreasing budget over security of cultural assets, frequent smuggling, and low rate of the retrieval of stolen cultural assets. They have not been able to come up with an appropriate solution as of yet. This point shows us that despite the fact that the arson attack on Sunyemun Gate happened 8 years ago, the cultural awareness of the Cultural Heritage Organization and the government is still not enough to deal with those problems.

However, to prevent the crimes and damages of cultural heritage, it is important that not only the government should take more care of its management and penalty policies, but also all citizens should realize the importance of cultural assets. Even if there is an excellent management system and modern facilities for damage prevention, it is no use protecting cultural assets if citizens are utterly indifferent to the cultural assets. So, citizens must be aware of the importance and worth of cultural assets before we lose our precious cultural heritage like Sungnyemun Gate.

Cultural assets have national and traditional histories, and it cannot be produced again like industrial products. Even if we can recreate the lost items, the historical significance and worth of the cultural assets will inevitably be lost because it is just an imitation. For these reasons, cultural assets are priceless treasures. Although the improvement in management systems of the Cultural Heritage Administration are important, the most important thing is the better awareness and different attitudes of citizens on cultural heritage because they are the real owners of the cultural heritage. Without proper attention, the cultural assets will simply be covered up with dust and disappear. Therefore, the government and the general public should realize the importance of the value of cultural assets and try to preserve them before they disappear due to indifference and crimes.