The biography of late Korean-born French historian Park Byeng-sen, who contributed enormously to the return of Korea’s looted ancient royal texts “Uigwe” from France, has been published in the form of children’s book.

The book is the first authorized biography of Park. According to the book’s publisher Gloyeon, Park approved the project as she liked the fact that it was going to be written for children.

“Park had rejected every offer from many publishing houses before we wrote to her in December of 2010,” said Oh Seung-hyun, the director of the publishing house. “When she approved the project, she said she wanted to see the finished product before it goes to print.”

The book is the result of one-month’s worth of in-person interviews with Park. Gong Ji-hee, the author, visited Park in Paris in September of last year, and talked to her almost everyday in her hospital room for the next 20 days or so. Park, who had colorectal cancer, died in November ― without having the chance to see the completed text.

“I felt bad to visit her everyday because she wasn’t in good condition because of the illness,” Gong wrote in a statement. “But Park was more than passionate about the project, and did not let a minute go to waste during our interviews.”

The book chronicles Park’s life from beginning till the end. It reveals that the late scholar, who never married and lived alone for the most of her life in Paris, had been a devout Catholic since very young, and even tried to become a nun at one point.

She was a voracious reader as a child, and participated as a choir member at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul. How Park, a university student at the time, suddenly recovered from meningitis after seeing St. Mary is being told for the first time to the public.

Park, who studied history at Seoul National University, moved to Paris at age 27. She had heard that the royal books of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), looted by French troops during the 19th century invasion of Korea, were housed at the National Library of France.

She started working at the national French institution in 1967, and eventually discovered the royal texts there in 1975. Following her report of the existence of Uigwe, the Korean Embassy in France officially requested the return of the volumes to Korea in 1992. Park also discovered Jikji, a Korean Buddhist document that dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), at the French library during her time there.

The book chronicles Park’s unyielding journey. In order to prove that Jikji is the world’s oldest extant movable metal type print book, Park used her own oven at home to make clay print blocks to compare with metal ones, according to the biography. The book also shows how Park had to endure cold shoulders from her colleagues at the National Library of France, after she openly called for the return of the royal books to Korea.

“Through this book, you’ll be able to see what kind of a life I had to live in order to achieve my dreams,” Park wrote to the book’s young readers. “I hope the story of my life could be a source of courage (when you try to reach your own).”



By Claire Lee
(dyc@heraldcorp.com)