• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.13
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• pp.205-231
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• 2006

My suggestions in this paper come out of the review of the records on the Korean-Japanese negotiations(1952-1965). Before January 2002, the enforcement of the public records law, we had a poor management system of the diplomatic records. For a long time the diplomatic records of Korean government has not been preserved and managed according to the international and professional standards. So many important records have been probably lost and unsuitably classified, preserved for the future use. By the coming of public records law this deplorable situation in the management of diplomatic records has been much improved. However the registration, classification, compilation, based on the principle of provenance were not so sufficiently realized. It is now very urgent to employ more archivists in the relevant governmental institutions and organizations, and to introduce the concept of record group for the management of diplomatic papers. Also at the preparatory work for the publication of the diplomatic papers it is strongly needed to make a room for the participation of the civil experts such as historians, archivists and political scientists. In the case of publication of the Korean-Japanese papers it is also necessary to take the relevant American and Japanese governmental records on Korean-Japanese negotiations and private records of the actors of the times into account. Moreover it must be also seriously considered to start a big project for the elaborate edition of the important records of the foreign policy of the nation.