[2022 National Audit] Cultural Property Thefts Double in 15 Years... Only 14 Specialized Investigators Available

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] While domestic cultural heritage theft cases have increased by 100% over 15 years, it has been confirmed that there is a severe shortage of specialized investigative personnel for cultural heritage.

According to data submitted by the Cultural Heritage Administration to the office of Im O-kyung, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, domestic cultural heritage theft cases increased from 14,840 items in 2005 to 30,868 items in 2020, a 100% increase. However, the recovery rate was only 23.4%.

Im’s office pointed out the shortage of special judicial police officers (special investigators) working on cultural heritage as one of the causes. There are a total of fourteen special investigators. Although the number increased from four to fourteen last year, most of them were added in the form of concurrent positions held by curators unrelated to investigations. Even so, this number is significantly lower compared to the average of 479 special investigators at the agency level, and it was the smallest among the twenty-five major institutions operating special investigators, including metropolitan cities and ministries.

They also pointed out a lack of on-site training. Im’s office explained that no face-to-face specialized training on cultural heritage was conducted last year for special investigators concurrently serving as curators, and even when training was conducted, most of it was cyber education.

Assembly member Im O-kyung stated, “Looking at the investigative performance of the Cultural Heritage Administration’s enforcement team over the past year, only four out of twenty-five cases were recovered, which is a result of lack of expertise and training,” adding, “The increase in theft is problematic, but the methods of cultural heritage theft, smuggling, and damage are becoming increasingly diverse, so to strengthen the investigative expertise of special investigators, it is necessary to increase the recruitment of external professional personnel or enhance training.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.