What follows is an account of the little ceremony we had outside the French Embassy in Seoul on a cold morning in the winter of I went there with Yong Yoon and Jane Jang.
He spoke after me, and she served as our camera woman. The idea was that we would make a video and put it on You Tube, with Korean and English subtitles. No such video was ever made. This is Richard Pennington. I am here at the French Embassy with my colleague Yong Yoon. Today, February 17, , marks the official end of our campaignto persuade, compel or shame the government of France into repatriating this enormously valuable artifact.
Jikji is the oldest extant document printed on movable metal type and thus tangible proof that the printing press was invented in East Asia , not Germany. While the odds were never good that we would succeed and get Jikji back, we have tried.
We have gathered about 7, names on our petition, which we had hoped to present to the French ambassador, Fabien Penone, whose office is directly behind me. The petition is written in Korean, French and English. Jikji was written by a Korean and produced in by Korean artisans using the radically new technology of movable metal type. Just over a century ago, it was taken out of the country by a Frenchman under dubious circumstances.
We believe the time has come to bring Jikji back home. Despite numerous letters and e-mails, Monsieur Penone has chosen not to let us in. Closer to home, we have been featured on television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
