Dialogue between South Korea and Japan on the restitution of illegally exported cultural heritage

Numerous incidents of Korean cultural heritage illicit export by Japanese citizens highlight the need for a detailed study of South Korean government's measures for cultural assets restitution. The study focuses on the measures taken by the Republic of Korea in its dialogue with Japan to return illegally exported cultural property. Special attention is paid to analyzing changes in the positions of South Korea and Japan during negotiations in the eve of diplomatic relations establishment. The purpose of this study is to determine the specifics of South Korean government’s policy for the restitution of national heritage illegally exported by Japan. The author identified the historical conditions for formation of South Korean government’s foreign policy aimed at national relics return. The author eastablished the transition from comprehensive negotiations for national relics restitution to individual cases of cultural heritage return. The methodological basis of the study is an analysis of reports from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Japan and South Korea on negotiations in the lead-up to diplomatic relations establishment. Situational analysis was used to study individual cases of cultural relics restitution. News agences such as "Yonhap News", "ChoongAng Ilbo", "Kyunghyang Shinmun" provided information about individual cases of cultural properties return. The novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive analysis of Japanese-Korean negotiations from the perspective of illegally exported relics return. The author's main contribition to the study is the definition of the historical conditions for formation of South Korean govenment's policy for cultural relics restitution from Japan.