Independence hero assassin's calligraphy breaking auction records in Seoul

New Straits Times

16-05-2025

SEOUL: Calligraphy by a South Korean independence hero, created while awaiting execution for assassinating a Japanese statesman, is breaking new auction records in Seoul, as the country's ultra-rich seek to bring historic artwork home.
Revered in the South for his efforts to defend the country against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is best known for his dramatic, high-stakes assassination of Japan's first prime minister, Ito Hirobumi, in 1909 at a railway station in Harbin.
He was hanged for the killing by Japanese authorities in 1910, just months before Tokyo formally annexed the Korean peninsula, ushering in a brutal period of occupation that lasted until the end of the Second World War.
Now, more than a century after his death, the calligraphy Ahn created in his prison cell during his final days – typically at the request of Japanese officials – is drawing fresh attention in Seoul's glitzy art scene.
In South Korea, Ahn's life has long inspired artists across generations, giving rise to a highly celebrated musical, multiple novels, and films – including one starring "Crash Landing on You" actor Hyun Bin.
Ahn was held in his prison cell in China for about 40 days leading up to his execution and he kept himself busy writing an autobiography and making hundreds of calligraphy pieces, including one requested by his own prison guard.
"The court and prison officials, saying they wanted to keep my calligraphy as a memento, brought me hundreds of sheets of silk and paper and asked me to create for them," Ahn wrote in his autobiography.
"I ended up spending several hours each day doing calligraphy, even though I wasn't particularly skilled in it."
Even though Ahn had assassinated their top official Ito, the Japanese who took his calligraphy preserved them with care, and some of their descendants have donated them to the South Korean government, which subsequently designated them as national treasures.
Now, more of the calligraphies are surfacing in the private art market, with the latest being auctioned last month in Seoul for 940 million won (US$674,098) – more than three times its opening bid.
The piece, which says "green bamboo" – a traditional symbol of integrity – had been owned by a Japanese individual who did not wish to be identified, and they had done an impeccable job preserving it, said Kim Jun-seon, art valuation specialist at Seoul Auction.
"It wasn't even mounted and was still rolled up, but when we opened the case, the scent of ink still lingered in the air," she told AFP.
Japan said Ahn was a criminal and terrorist and refused to hand over his remains. They have never been located.
Moves to honour Ahn by Seoul and Beijing have previously strained ties with Tokyo, even briefly sparking a diplomatic row in 2013.
The fact that his Japanese captors preserved his calligraphy "reflects the cultural and political contradictions of early twentieth-century East Asia," said Eugene Y. Park, a history professor at University of Nevada, Reno.
At his trial, Ahn identified himself as a soldier for Korea, defined his assassination of Ito as a military operation, and envisioned a united East Asia – comprising Korea, China, and Japan – somewhat akin to today's European Union.
"Some Japanese may have seen him as a misguided but principled idealist," Park told AFP.
His calligraphy, which focused on values such as peace and ethics, "resonated culturally, even if he opposed them politically," he said.
"At a time when Japan's own imperial identity was unsettled, preserving his works revealed deeper tensions between respect for moral courage and the pursuit of colonial domination."
In 2023, the Global Sae-A Group, a South Korean conglomerate, purchased one of Ahn's calligraphies for a record-breaking 1.95 billion won.
The piece "Green Bamboo" was sold at auction last month to the family of South Korea's LS Group.
"We expressed our intention to bring the piece back to Korea and share it with the public," Joung Tae-hee at Seoul Auction said, adding that the Japanese owner agreed to sell after hearing their proposal.
Lee Sang-hyun, of the LS Group family, told AFP that his mother "hopes many citizens will be able to see this piece and that it will also be studied," and they are considering donating it to a national institution.
Ahn became a catholic as a teenager and ends his autobiography with the words of Nicolas Joseph Marie Wilhelm, a French priest and missionary stationed in Korea, who travelled to his prison to see the activist and give him confession.
The priest – who had also baptised Ahn and was a long-time friend – was disciplined for his trip, and was later forced to return to France.
"The gracious lord will never abandon you," Wilhelm told Ahn. "He will surely take you in, so rest your heart and go in peace."