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# National Museum of Korea director criticised over misattributed work from his own collection
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/direktora-natsionalnogo-muzeia-korei-iu-khon-dzhuna-kritikuiut-za-to-chto-on-odolzhil-muzeiu-rabotu-iz-sobstvennoi-kollektsii-kotoraia-okazalas-oshibochno-atributirovana/
- Published: 2026-10-16T11:30:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T11:50:12.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: The East, Art, Museums, Society

Yu Hong-jun, Director of the National Museum of Korea, is being criticised for lending the museum a work from his own collection that turned out to have been misattributed.

At the exhibition "Korean Table: Food, Nature and Life", which opened on 1 July, the museum displayed a piece of calligraphy, "Even a Bowl of Rice Is a Gift of the Nation". The museum ascribed it to Pak Won-gyun (1912–1950), a fighter for Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945\. After outside specialists doubted the attribution, the museum admitted on 7 September that the work was by Pak Chung-yang, who, on the contrary, had collaborated with the Japanese colonial authorities. The museum withdrew the work from the exhibition and apologised.

At first the museum did not disclose who owned the calligraphy. The owner was named in documents that the museum handed to deputies of the People Power Party ahead of a parliamentary inspection. The documents show that the work was taken "on the director's recommendation". Yu Hong-jun replied that he had considered it the work of an independence fighter and had intended to present it as a gift to the cultural centre of Buyeo County. He rejected the accusation that he had wanted to raise the value of his collection. Between 2019 and 2024 the director gave the state 865 items with a total value of about 2.7 billion won, or about 2 million dollars. Critics now demand an inquiry into whether these gifts underwent proper expert examination