The director of the National Museum of Korea apologizes to lawmakers and the public after a calligraphic work displayed at the museum is found to have been wrongly attributed. You Hong-june says he committed a “grave mistake and oversight,” bowing during an annual parliamentary audit and saying the verification failure undermines public trust and staff efforts. He also apologizes to the late Korean independence activist the piece was initially attributed to, as well as the activist’s bereaved family.
The controversy begins in August, when a calligraphy work titled “Ilbansigukeun” (“even a single bowl of rice is the grace of the nation”) is presented in the museum’s special exhibition, “Our Dining Table.” According to reporting, the work was introduced as being by a Korean independence figure, but it later emerges that the attribution is incorrect and that the item came from You’s private collection.
While outlets focus on the apology and the parliamentary setting, they also highlight the same core issue: the museum’s verification process fails, leading to an artwork being publicly displayed under an incorrect authorship claim, prompting scrutiny of the museum’s exhibit management and documentation.
