문화재의 국제적 불법거래 방지를 위한 한국의 노력과 역할: 문화재ㆍ문화유산의 개념 논의를 포함하여

“Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property” adopted by the UNESCO General Assembly on November 14, 1970 (“1970 Convention”) came into force on April 24, 1972, as an international convention preventing theft and looting of cultural properties and providing an international framework for the return of stolen cultural properties to eradicate illegal trafficking. To date, there are 140 State Parties to the 1970 Convention which took effect on May 14, 1983 in Korea. In order to commemorate its 50th anniversary this article looks at the main contents of the 1970 Convention and its implementation in Korea. Although Korea has been correctly implementing the 1970 Convention overall, there is still room for improvement as it does not expressly prohibit import into Korea of cultural properties which have been illegally exported from other State Parties and also lacks an export certificate system for export of cultural properties. Moreover, since Korea introduced Article 20 of the Cultural Property Protection Act (“CPPA”) to implement the 1970 Convention, the object of protection (especially for return) under Article 20 of the CPPA should logically be cultural properties falling under the scope of the 1970 Convention. However, it may be that the Korean legislators extended the scope of the object of the protection, beyond that of the 1970 Convention, to foreign cultural properties as defined in the CPPA. Efforts to prevent illegal trafficking of cultural properties cannot be accomplished without the support and cooperation of not only the Cultural Heritage Administration, but also customs, prosecutors, courts, cultural property-related organizations and attentive citizens, as well as international cooperation. In implementing other conventions related to cultural properties such as the World Heritage Convention and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, it is necessary to refine the contents and further systematize the implementation method in Korea. In addition, there is currently a confusion due to the lack of coherence between domestic norms (CPPA) and international norms (UNESCO Conventions) regarding the concept of cultural property and cultural heritage, etc., which are the object of protection, therefore it is necessary to enhance coherence in that regard. Finally, it is necessary to consider prospectively joining the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects of 1995, and if the Korean government is hesitant to join in the near future, it will be necessary to properly rearrange Article 20 of the CPPA.