People say that time passes faster as we grow older.

Now in my seventies and approaching eighty, I too feel time moving ever faster, and a growing urgency to bring my unfinished projects to a close.

That is why I have decided to hold this exhibition of North Korean paintings from my collection.

My close ties with Japan and frequent business visits to China have given me a particular perspective on the division of Korea and a deep interest in North Korea.

This led me to collect North Korean paintings. After postponing an exhibition for various reasons, I am finally able to present them.

These paintings can be appreciated in many ways, but their particular significance lies in their being works in various genres made by North Korean artists roughly thirty years ago, rather than recent works.

I hope visitors will view the works in the context of North Korea some thirty years ago, and find a space to connect with a shared Korean sensibility that I feel has been preserved there more strongly than in the South.

I hope that this modest exhibition may contribute, however slightly, to rediscovering what people in the North and South share and to deepening awareness of reunification.

Thank you.

May 2019

Chair, Korean Cultural Research Association Sin Hyeon-han With warm regards