Queen Munjeong's seal, which is in LACMA’s possession, is clearly a stolen article and cannot be privately traded.
The seal was well preserved in Korea until the Korean War. It was stolen by U.S. soldiers during the war, in 1950, and was illegally taken out of the country.
After the theft, the Korean government notified its U.S. counterpart that 47 royal seals had been stolen by U.S. troops and made this incident public in the U.S. through the media including the Baltimore Sun.
We have recently perused the U.S. State Department records to find the investigation by the State Department that recognized the Joseon royal seals as stolen articles. We hereby plead for the seal’s return to Korea within the framework of Korean-U.S. friendship.
Cultural Asset Recovery Organization Rep Hye Moon