Source 3 : Reply from KNMC on #119.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this letter in response to third-party comments made by Japan and forwarded to the Republic of Korea via email by the MoW Secretariat on June 13. The comments concern The Archives of the April 19 Revolution, a nomination the Republic of Korea has submitted for evaluation during the 2022–2023 cycle. 

Upon the receipt of the comments, the MoW National Committee of the Republic of Korea engaged in thorough consultations with the nominator and is now submitting on their behalf information pertaining to the comments as below. 

Among the nominated documentary materials comprising The Archives of the April 19 Revolution, four items have been confirmed to refer to or have been produced in Japan. These four documentary materials are all publicly accessible in printed or digital form. The details of these four items are presented below. 

Item 1. A statement entitled “To Patriotic Student Heroes in the Fatherland” and identified as No. 12 of Section 4-1 in Appendix 1 of the nomination 

- This statement was written by the head of the Korean Volunteer Students Corps in Japan on April 28, 1960. The statement delivers support and admiration expressed by Korean students in Japan toward the toppling of Syngman Rhee’s authoritarian regime and toward the people behind this historic achievement. 

- This material is accessible through the digital archive of its holding institution, the Korea University Museum (archives.korea.ac.kr).

Item 2. An oral account by Choi Won-gak entitled “Choi Won-gak” and identified as No. 13 of Section 4-4 in Appendix 1 of the nomination 

- This material was produced as part of an oral history project performed by the Korean Democracy Foundation in 2010 in an effort to collect stories about the April 19 Revolution. It contains oral accounts offered by the former journalist Choi Wonꠓgak, who covered the Korea-Japan talks on the normalization of relations in 1961 as a Tokyo-based correspondent for the Seoul Shinmun newspaper. His accounts relate to the April 19 Revolution and events before and after the revolution (including the 1961 Korea-Japan talks). 

- A written summary of Choi’s accounts and a video of his interview are freely available on the digital archive of the holding institution, the Korea Democracy Foundation (archives.kdemo.or.kr). 

Items 3 and 4. Two photographs, both entitled “Protest by Korean residents in Japan on April 23,” respectively identified as No. 276 and No. 277 of Section 6-1 in Appendix 1 of the nomination

- These two photographs are images of a protest that was staged by Koreans in front of the South Korean diplomatic mission in Tokyo on April 23, 1961. In these images, approximately 60 Koreans who were studying or otherwise residing in Japan protest while holding banners expressing their opposition to Syngman Rhee. 

- These two photographs are under the custody of the Yonsei University Museum and are publicly accessible through their inclusion in the 2010 publication Complete Collection of Historical Materials on the April 19 Revolution (8 volumes) by the Korean Democracy Foundation. 

I sincerely hope that the information provided above constitutes a sufficient response to the comments made by the third party. While submitting the information, the MoW National Committee would like to request on behalf of the nominator that the MoW Secretariat continue to proceed with the expert evaluation of the nomination in accordance with Paragraph 8.6.5.2.3 of the General Guidelines.

Sincerely yours,

Chair

MoW National Committee of the Republic of Korea