Seoul: A ceremony marking the return of a pair of Qing Dynasty stone lion statues from a Seoul museum to the Chinese government took place Thursday, officials said. The event was held at the Kansong Art Museum and marked the culmination of a six-month process initiated by a document signed during a summit meeting in January, pledging the return of the statues originally purchased by the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation in the 1930s.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the ceremony included the signing of a document by the Kansong Art Museum and the National Museum of Korea (NMK) to transfer ownership of the statues to Chinese cultural authorities. The event was attended by notable figures including NMK Director You Hong-june, Kansong Art Museum Director Chun In-keon, Rao Quan, chief of China's National Cultural Heritage Administration, and Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing.

The statues, each standing 1.9 meters tall and weighing 1.25 tons, were acquired at an auction market in Japan and have been a symbolic feature of the museum in Seoul. The late Korean art collector Jeon Hyeong-pil, known as "Kansong," is believed to have expressed a wish for the statues to be returned to China in the future. An initial attempt to donate the statues in 2016 was delayed due to unfavorable circumstances, leading the museum to request the NMK's assistance in handling the donation.

"It is meaningful that the NMK has set a milestone of cultural exchange and solidarity between South Korea and China, in upholding Kansong's vision of safeguarding the nation through culture," said You Hong-june. "This donation ceremony will serve as a new driving force in enriching bilateral cultural exchange going forward," he added.

Five Chinese cultural experts who examined the lion statues have recognized them as "excellent works of the Qing Dynasty that are valuable in terms of history, art and science." Chinese Ambassador Dai Bing highlighted the ceremony as a "successful" example of bilateral cooperation and expressed optimism about expanding cooperation and exchanges regarding displaced cultural heritage.

The statues are set to be displayed at a Chinese national museum within this year following their return and restoration. Meanwhile, the Kansong museum plans to install 19th-century Korean stone tiger statues in place of the departing lion statues.