Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik on Wednesday donated 2,013 books to the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.

“I have decided to donate a total of 2,013 books to mark the year 2013, wishing for the museum to flourish this year,” Choe said. The historian-turned-administrator said he had collected the books while he was in academia, as National Museum of Korea director and as head of the Cultural Heritage Administration before taking the helm at the Culture Ministry.

Among the collection are hard-to-find items such as an introduction of the Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty of 1965 and undisclosed information about magazines by publishing company Adan Mungo. He also donated several books he authored about early 20th-century Korean historians.

“Such materials will be used for study of Korea’s modern and contemporary history by museum curators,” the ministry said in a press release.

By Bae Ji-sook  (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)