culture ministry-ex-museum chief

▲ Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young answers a question from a lawmaker during a parliamentary audit of the ministry at the National Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 23, 2026. (Yonhap)

▲ You Hong-june, former director of the National Museum of Korea (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- The culture minister said Friday his ministry will conduct a thorough audit of the former National Museum of Korea chief who resigned over the museum's controversial display of a misattributed calligraphic work from his private collection.

You Hong-june stepped down earlier this week after the museum wrongly displayed the calligraphy in an exhibition as the work of a Korean independence activist. The piece was later identified as the work of a prominent pro-Japanese collaborator during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea and turned out to be from You's own private collection.

"I think the incident has damaged the reputation and public trust the museum has built over the years," Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young told a lawmaker during a parliamentary audit of the ministry. "The ministry will seek to restore public confidence through a rigorous investigation."

The audit will not be limited to the alleged abuse of authority by the former director but will also look into "every procedure involved in the management and authentication of the exhibit at issue," Chae added.

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