The director of the National Museum of Korea, You Hong-june, is under scrutiny after the museum quietly removed a calligraphic work belonging to him from its current exhibition, South Korea's Korea JoongAng Daily reports. The piece had been shown in "The Korean Table: Food, Nature, and Life," on view through October 25, as the work of an independence activist. It isn't.

The calligraphy was presented as the work of Park Won-geun (1912–50), a socialist activist from North Chungcheong who resisted Japanese colonial rule during the dark 1910–1945 period of forced assimilation and exploitation. About a month into the show, amid outside questions over the attribution, the museum pulled the piece. Subsequent research confirmed it was in fact by the pro-Japanese bureaucrat Park Jung-yang — who had once used the name Park Won-geun.

While the museum apologized for the mix-up, it initially said nothing about who owned the piece or how it had entered the exhibition. You has since admitted the loan came from his private collection, while denying it was meant to inflate the value of something he owns. "I did lend the piece from my private collection," he told the JoongAng Ilbo. "I also believed the calligraphy was the work of an independence activist."

The admission has prompted calls to tighten the museum's verification procedures. You has exhibited and donated other items from his own holdings to the institution since taking office in 2025, and critics say works owned or recommended by the director may be bypassing the rigorous checks a national museum should apply.