주권면제와 문화재소송- Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation사건을 중심으로 -

초록

Retrieval of illegally removed cultural artefacts is a common international concern nowadays. Resolution of such issue involving stolen or illegally removed cultural assets includes legal approach and political and/or diplomatic approach. First, for the legal approach, there are two methods; one is to file a civil suit, and the other is through arbitration or mediation. However, there is no international agreement addressing the binding rules of the return of the artefacts, and there is no international organization to supervise such issues. Ultimately, no legal protection exists to effectively handle the retrieval of cultural artefacts. Moreover, disputes over cultural assets mostly involve sharp conflicts between countries, which make it difficult for the parties to arrive at a settlement or mediation. Even in this harsh reality, parties involved lodge civil lawsuits in their courts, to tirelessly fight for the justice of the retrieval of illegally removed cultural assets. In 2008, the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, ordered the Russian Federation to return the cultural artefacts to the original owner in the well-known case of Agudas Chasidei of United states v. Russian Federation. Through such precedence, many started to anticipate hopes of legally resolving disputes regarding cultural artefacts. Also, after the verdict of the return of the assets, the court made a sanction decision to charge for compelling the execution. This verdict has significance in that it is legal realization of justice to return the cultural artefacts to the rightful owner. However, this case currently remains unresolved, turned into a diplomatic dispute between nations. Even so, this judgment clearly defines the legal boundary of the theft and illegal transfer of cultural artefacts, and is a compelling verdict especially for Koreans; who experienced such loss, yet failed to comprehend the scale of damage, and traced the path of the loss, yet unable to retrieve the artefacts.

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