Calligraphy by a South Korean independence hero, created while awaiting execution for assassinating a Japanese statesman, is breaking new auction records in Seoul, as the country’s ultra-rich seek to bring historic artwork home.Revered in the South for his efforts to defend the country against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is best known for his dramatic, high-stakes assassination of Japan’s first prime minister, Ito Hirobumi, in 1909 at a railway station in Harbin.He was hanged for the killing by Japanese authorities in 1910, just months before Tokyo formally annexed the Korean peninsula, ushering in a brutal period of occupation that lasted until the end of the Second World War.Now, more than a century after his death, the calligraphy Ahn created in his prison cell during his final days — typically at the request of Japanese officials — is drawing fresh attention in Seoul’s glitzy art scene.In South Korea, Ahn’s life has long inspired artists across generations, giving rise to a highly celebrated musical, multiple novels, and films — including one starring “Crash Landing on You” actor Hyun Bin.Ahn was held in his prison cell in China for about 40 days leading up to his execution and he kept himself busy writing an autobiography and making hundreds of calligraphy pieces, including one requested by his own prison guard.”The court and prison officials, saying they wanted to keep my calligraphy as a memento, brought me hundreds of sheets of silk and paper and asked me to create for them,” Ahn wrote in his autobiography.”I ended up spending several hours each day doing calligraphy, even though I wasn’t particularly skilled in it.”Even though Ahn had assassinated their top official Ito, the Japanese who took his calligraphy preserved them with care, and some of their descendants have donated them to the South Korean government, which subsequently designated them as national treasures. Now, more of the calligraphies are surfacing in the private art market, with the latest being auctioned last month in Seoul for 940 million won (US$674,098) — more than three times its opening bid.The piece, which says “green bamboo” — a traditional symbol of integrity — had been owned by a Japanese individual who did not wish to be identified, and they had done an impeccable job preserving it, said Kim Jun-seon, art valuation specialist at Seoul Auction.”It wasn’t even mounted and was still rolled up, but when we opened the case, the scent of ink still lingered in the air,” she told AFP.- ‘Terrorist’ – Japan said Ahn was a criminal and terrorist and refused to hand over his remains. They have never been located.Moves to honour Ahn by Seoul and Beijing have previously strained ties with Tokyo, even briefly sparking a diplomatic row in 2013. The fact that his Japanese captors preserved his calligraphy “reflects the cultural and political contradictions of early twentieth-century East Asia,” said Eugene Y. Park, a history professor at University of Nevada, Reno.At his trial, Ahn identified himself as a soldier for Korea, defined his assassination of Ito as a military operation, and envisioned a united East Asia — comprising Korea, China, and Japan — somewhat akin to today’s European Union.”Some Japanese may have seen him as a misguided but principled idealist,” Park told AFP.His calligraphy, which focused on values such as peace and ethics, “resonated culturally, even if he opposed them politically,” he said.”At a time when Japan’s own imperial identity was unsettled, preserving his works revealed deeper tensions between respect for moral courage and the pursuit of colonial domination.”- Go in peace – In 2023, the Global Sae-A Group, a South Korean conglomerate, purchased one of Ahn’s calligraphies for a record-breaking 1.95 billion won.The piece “Green Bamboo” was sold at auction last month to the family of South Korea’s LS Group.”We expressed our intention to bring the piece back to Korea and share it with the public,” Joung Tae-hee at Seoul Auction said, adding that the Japanese owner agreed to sell after hearing their proposal.Lee Sang-hyun, of the LS Group family, told AFP that his mother “hopes many citizens will be able to see this piece and that it will also be studied,” and they are considering donating it to a national institution.Ahn became a catholic as a teenager and ends his autobiography with the words of Nicolas Joseph Marie Wilhelm, a French priest and missionary stationed in Korea, who travelled to his prison to see the activist and give him confession.The priest — who had also baptised Ahn and was a long-time friend — was disciplined for his trip, and was later forced to return to France.”The gracious lord will never abandon you,” Wilhelm told Ahn. “He will surely take you in, so rest your heart and go in peace.”

Japan’s economy contracted 0.2 percent between January and March, the first quarterly drop in a year, according to cabinet office data released Friday.The world’s fourth-largest economy is trying to negotiate relief from punishing US trade tariffs as it seeks to shake off stagnation that has long plagued the country.Friday’s preliminary figure for quarter-on-quarter GDP was worse than market expectations of a 0.1 percent contraction.It marked a slowdown from growth of 0.6 percent in October-December. The last time the Japanese economy shrank was in January-March 2024 — when it contracted 0.4 percent.Exports, which fuel Japan’s growth, were down 0.6 percent while imports jumped 2.9 percent, weighing on overall GDP.On an annualised basis, GDP shrank 0.7 percent in the first quarter.Ahead of the data release, analysts warned that Japan will face headwinds as US President Donald Trump’s levies roil the global economy.”Ucertainty is greatly heightened by the Trump tariffs, and it is likely that the economic slowdown trend will become clearer from (the second quarter) onward,” said BNP Paribas chief economist Ryutaro Kono.That will likely weigh on corporate spending such as capital investment and drive down demand for capital goods,” such as machinery and tools, he said.Katsutoshi Inadome of SuMi TRUST noted that “with recent negotiations between US and Chinese officials concluding with lower tariffs, we hope that this will ultimately mitigate their economic impact”.Trump’s hardball campaign to rectify what he says are unfair trade imbalances includes tariffs on trading partners and imports including steel and automobiles.But Japan’s economic woes run deeper than the trade war. With domestic and foreign demand flagging, its economy “remains without a driving force”, said Yoshiki Shinke, senior executive economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.”The possibility of the economy entering a recession cannot be ruled out, depending on the degree of downward pressure caused by the tariff issue,” he warned ahead of Friday.Earlier this month the Bank of Japan revised down its growth forecasts and held interest rates steady, warning that trade tariffs are fuelling global economic uncertainty.The BoJ said it now expects Japan’s GDP to rise 0.5 percent in the fiscal year that started in April — down from its previous estimate of 1.1 percent.”With the economy already shrinking on the eve of the trade war, the Bank of Japan will probably wait even longer before resuming its tightening cycle than we had anticipated,” Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics said Friday.