Tag: Bank of Korea

Bank of Korea May Remove Imperial Japanese Calligraphy

| October 25, 2020

It seems to me instead of erasing the history, the Bank of Korea should just put a plaque there explaining the history to people:

Shown in the top image is the word “priority” engraved in Chinese on the cornerstone of the Bank of Korea’s former headquarters in downtown Seoul, Friday. The bottom image shows the original calligraphy obtained by the country’s Cultural Heritage Administration, which confirmed the word was handwritten by Hirobumi Ito, the first resident general of Korea prior to the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the peninsula. Korea Times file

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol said Friday the bank is in talks with the Cultural Heritage Administration to possibly remove the engraving of the word “priority” written in Chinese on the cornerstone of the bank’s former headquarters in downtown Seoul.

“The BOK will be very quick in addressing the issue about Hiromubi Ito’s calligraphy and the strokes slanted down from the left to the bottom right which were found in the two characters of ‘jeong’ and ‘cho’ engraved on the foundation stone. The bank is exploring three options. After thorough discussions with the CHA, the bank will resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the central bank chief told lawmakers on the sidelines of his participation in this year’s annual Assembly audit of the BOK.

Lee didn’t elaborate further, but he issued a public apology over the matter. The apology came a day after the CHA confirmed the writing engraved on the bank’s former headquarters was Hirobumi Ito’s handwriting. 

Ito was the first resident general of Korea prior to the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the peninsula. Ito was assassinated by Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun in Manchuria in 1909.

Korea Times

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