Japanese museums dispute forged art

[Anchor]

In Japan, two public art museums are embroiled in a controversy over two high-value paintings that are suspected to be forgeries.

The artist who created the paintings has also acknowledged them as forgeries, but the museums have been unable to reach a conclusion for over six months.

What happened? Our Tokyo correspondent, Hwang Jin-woo, reports.

[Report]

This is a work that the Tokushima Modern Art Museum purchased in 1998 for about 700 million won.

It has been introduced as "At the Cycle-Race Track" by the French Cubist painter Jean Metzinger, focusing on rich colors and abstract cylindrical forms.

This painting has been exhibited at the Museum of Art, Kochi for nearly 30 years.

It has been described as "Girl with Swan" by the German painter Heinrich Campendonk, known for its rich lyrical depiction of animals on canvas.

Last summer, suspicions of forgery regarding these two paintings were raised.

A figure in the Japanese art world discovered that a CBS program in the United States had reported the two paintings as forgeries.

The two museums were thrown into chaos.

[Okuno Katsuhito/Museum of Art, Kochi/Curator: "It's not that I can't believe it, but it doesn't make sense. We have proudly exhibited this work for many years, and I was also moved when I saw the painting...."]

The main culprit behind the art forgery case is a forger from Germany, who created paintings that could have been made by famous artists by mimicking their styles.

This forger has also acknowledged in interviews with Japanese media that the paintings in the two prefectural museums are his forgeries.

[Wolfgang Beltracchi/Forger: "Of course, I don't deny that I painted it for money. I needed money, but the ecstasy was tremendous. Just imagine the moment I completed the work."]

Following the artist's confession, the two museums have requested X-ray examinations to determine the authenticity, but perhaps out of reluctance to admit the forgeries, they have been unable to reach a conclusion for over six months.

This is Hwang Jin-woo from KBS News in Tokyo.