1970 UNESCO Convention on the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property and its Legal Implementations in the Republic of Korea

This year is the 50th anniversary of the adoption by UNESCO in 1970 of the Convention on the Means ofProhibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (the‘1970 Convention’). Since its ratification of the 1970 Convention in 1983, the Republic of Korea has domesticallyimplemented the Convention through its Cultural Heritage Protection Act, which was first enacted in 1962. This isa different form of implementation than is normally used for other UNESCO Conventions on cultural heritage, inthat the Republic of Korea has recently adopted special acts to enforce the 2003 Convention for the Safeguardingof Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural andNatural Heritage. In addition, the 1970 Convention has been developed further through the introduction of newOperational Guidelines in 2015 for the concrete enforcement of the Convention, which has provided momentumfor the Republic of Korea to analyze its current national legislation related to the 1970 Convention as well asconsider its amendment in the future.Overall, the Cultural Heritage Protection Act of the Republic of Korea effectively reflects the duties of StatesParties under the 1970 Convention. These include measures to introduce export certificates, prohibit the import ofstolen cultural property, return other state parties’ cultural property, and impose penalties or administrative sanctionsin the event of any infringements. Indeed, the Republic of Korea’s implementation of the 1970 Convention wasintroduced as an example of good practice at the Meeting of State Parties in 2019.However, changes in the illegal market for cultural property and development of relevant international lawand measures imply that there still exists room for improvement concerning the legal implementation of the 1970Convention at the national level. In particular, the Operational Guidelines recommend States Parties to adopt legalmeasures in two respects: detailed criteria for due diligence in assessing bona-fide purchasers, referring to the 1995UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, and measures to address the emergingissue of illegal trade in cultural property on internet platforms.Amendment of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act and other relevant laws should be considered in order toduly reflect these issues. Taking that opportunity, concrete provisions to facilitate international cooperation in respectof the implementation of the 1970 Convention could be introduced as well. Such measures could be expectedto strengthen the Republic of Korea’s international legal cooperation to respond to the changing environmentregarding illicit trafficking of cultural property and its restitution.