The calligraphy of a hero of the independence of South Korea, created while waiting for the execution to kill a Japanese leader, is breaking new auction records in Seoul, since the home of ultra -rich historical art of the country seeks the home of historical art.
Venerated in the south for their efforts to defend the country against the Japanese invasion, Ahn Jung-Geun is well known for its dramatic high-risk murder of the first prime minister of Japan, Ito Hirobumi, in 1909 at a train station in Harbin. Ahn shouted “Hurra for Korea!” As arrested, according to the Association of Asian Studies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
He was hanged for the murder for Horizations of Japanese cars in 1910, only a few months before Tokyo formally attached the Korean peninsula, marking the beginning of a brutal period of occupation that lasted until the end of World War II.
Now, more than a century after his death, the calligraphy he created in his prison cell dares to his last days, usually at the request of Japanese officials, he is attracting new attention in the dazzling artistic scene of Seoul.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP through Getty Images 
In South Korea, AHN’s life has long inspired artists of all generations, giving rise to a very famous musical, multiple novels and films, including a starring the actor of “Crash Landing on You” Hyun Bin.
Ahn was a hero in his prison cell in China for about 40 days prior to its execution and remained busy writing an autobiography and making locks of calligraphy pieces, including a requested by his own prison guard.
“The court and prison officials, saying that they wanted to maintain my calligraphy as a souvenir, brought me hundreds of silk and paper and asked me to create for them,” Ahn wrote in their autobiography. “I ended up spending several hours every day, calligraphy, I even thought I was particularly skilled in it.”
For a moment, although Ahn had murdered their official height, the Japanese who, their calligraphy preserved them with care, and some descendants have donated them to the Government of South Korea, which subigned them as national terasas of Asia.
Now, more of the calligraphies are emerging in the private art market, and the last one was auctioned last month in Seoul for 940 million Wones ($ 674,098), more than more than its open opening offer.
The piece, which says “Green Bamboo”, a traditional integrity leg symbol, owned by a Japanese individual who did not want to be identified, and had done an impeccable job preserving, said Kim Jun-Son, a specialist in art assessment in Seoul Aucion.
“I was simply mounted and was still rolled up, but when we opened the case, the aroma of the ink still remained in the air,” he told AFP.
“Idealist wrong but of principles”
Japan said Ahn was a criminal and terrorist and refused to deliver his remains. They have never located the location.
The movements to honor Ahn by Seoul and Beijing have previously tensioned ties with Tokyo, also with letters that cause a diplomatic row in 2013.
In 2014, Japan criticized a monument built in China to commemorate AHN, BBC News reported. A Japanese government spokesman described a terrorist after the China-Corean memorial hall opened in the city of Harbin in China, where he was shot from Ito.
The fact that its Japanese captors
In his trial, Ahn identified himself as a soldier for Korea, defined his murder of Ito as a military operation and imagined an East United Asia, which includes Korea, China and Japan, something similar to today’s European Union.
“Some Japanese may have seen him as a wrong idealist but with principles,” Park told AFP.
Universal History Archive Group/Universal Images through Getty Images 
His calligraphy, which focused on values such as peace and ethics, “culturally resonated, even if he hears they opposed them politicians,” he said.
“At a time when Japan’s own imperial identity was unstable, preserving his works revealed deeper tensions between respect for moral courage and the search for colonial domination.”
In 2023, the Sae-A Global Group, a South Korean conglomerate, bought one of AHN’s calligraphy for a record breakup of 1.95 billion (almost $ 1.4 million).
The “Green Bamboo” piece was sold at an auction last month to the family of the LS group of South Korea.
“We express our intention to bring the piece back to Korea and share it with the public,” said Joung Tae-Hee ate Seoul auction, adding that the Japanese owner agreed to sell listening to his proposal.
Lee Sang-Hyun, from the LS group family, told AFP that the mother “hopes that many citizens can see this piece and will also be studied”, and they are considering it for a national institution.
Ahn became a Catholic when he was a teenager and ends his autobiography with the words of Nicolas Joseph Marie Wilhelm, a French priest and missionary parked in Korea, who traveled to see the activist and give him confession.
The priest, who had also baptized Ahn and was a friend for a long time, was disciplined for his trip and then was forced to return to France.
“The funny lord will never abandon you,” Wilhelm told Ahn. “Hello, surely welcomes you, so rest your heart and see in peace.”
