Interior ministry announces Korea-France anniversary exhibition at Presidential Archives

The interior ministry said Thursday the Presidential Archives will open a traveling exhibition Aug. 14 marking 140 years of diplomatic relations between South Korea and France.

The show, titled "Gifts and Records, 140 Years of Friendship," runs through Sept. 13 in the archives' special exhibition hall. It will display about 80 diplomatic documents, presidential records and gifts exchanged by the countries' leaders.

The anniversary commemorates 140 years since the 1886 Korea-France Treaty of Amity and Commerce. It follows a joint exhibition at the National Palace Museum that ran from June 3 to Aug. 2. The display combines holdings from the Presidential Archives, the National Palace Museum and the Francois Mitterrand Memorial Museum.

Arranged in three sections, the exhibition begins with the 1886 treaty and traces relations after South Korea's founding. The second section includes records of French forces' participation in the Korean War and U.N. activities. The third covers cooperation in economic, cultural, science and technology and aerospace fields after the countries' first summit in 1986. Items include the treaty, records of Victor Collin de Plancy, France's first diplomat to Korea, cabinet minutes on the appointment of Gong Jin-hang, South Korea's first minister to France, and summit photographs, letters and diplomatic gifts.

Han Seong-won, director of the Presidential Archives, called the exhibition "a very meaningful occasion that sheds light on the 140-year diplomatic history of South Korea and France through records and cultural heritage." He said he hoped visitors would reflect on the historical significance of Korea-France relations and the value of records in conveying the meaning of diplomacy to future generations.