Nam June Paik's 'My Faust' Ruled as Property of Late Kim Woo-choong's Wife; Court Recognizes Ownership

Jeong Heeja Wins Recognition for 3 Out of 188 Artworks in Lawsuit
Wuyang Industrial Development Appeals

The court has ruled that ownership of Nam June Paik's works, 'My Faust - Economics' and 'My Faust - Spirituality,' belongs to Jeong Heeja, the wife of the late Kim Woo-choong, former chairman of Daewoo Group.

According to the legal community on July 18, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 34 (Presiding Judge Kim Chang-mo) recently rendered a partial judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the movable property restitution lawsuit filed by Jeong against Wuyang Industrial Development (formerly Daewoo Development).

Jeong demanded that Wuyang Industrial Development return 188 art pieces currently held by Wuyang Museum.

Nam June Paik's 'My Faust - Economics' and 'My Faust - Spirituality'. Wuyang Museum

The court determined that only three pieces—the two Nam June Paik works and a piece by German artist Sigmar Polke—belong to Jeong and ordered their return.

Jeong argued that, around 1991, she had exhibited and stored the artworks she owned at the Gyeongju Hilton Hotel and Wuyang Museum, both operated by Wuyang Industrial Development, which was then under her husband's control. She explained that during the subsequent transfer of management control, the artworks were not returned, and so Wuyang Industrial Development has continued to possess them, prompting her to file the lawsuit in July last year.

Basing its decision on testimony from the Wuyang Museum curator, the gallery owner who sold Jeong the pieces, and a former staff member from Jeong's private office, the court acknowledged that Jeong had, in fact, purchased and owned the two Nam June Paik works and one other piece.

The court also cited as evidence of ownership an official letter Jeong sent to Wuyang Industrial Development in 2014, in which she stated, "Over several decades, I have allowed Wuyang Industrial Development to freely use various artworks and items purchased with my personal funds, always making it clear that I would retrieve them whenever necessary. Please promptly facilitate the return of my artworks and items."

However, the court did not recognize Jeong's ownership of the remaining 185 pieces, stating, "There is no objective evidence that Jeong purchased these works."

Jeong contended that, during her tenure as director of Wuyang Museum, she had prepared collection inventory cards indicating the ownership status of each piece, assigning the code "M" to items she owned.

However, the museum curator who prepared the inventory cards testified as a witness in court that, "When the owner was unknown, we would initially mark it with an 'M' code. If the real owner later raised an issue, we would update it with a different code."

Based on this testimony, the court concluded, "The mere fact that some collection inventory cards are marked with the 'M' code does not, by itself, establish that the items belong to Jeong."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.