The government is preparing to return a Joseon Dynasty stone monument to its original resting place in North Korea next month.

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced Monday that over the next eight days it would disassemble and pack for shipping the "Bukgwan Daecheopbi," which will be returned to the North via an overland route next Wednesday.

This coming Wednesday, the culture agency will hold working-level talks with North Korean officials at the North’s border city of Gaesong to work out details of the monument's return, including the method of its transportation.

Last October, the stone monument was returned from Japan and has since been on display at the Independence Hall.

The monument was built in 1707 to mark a volunteer army's victory over Japanese invaders in the late 16th century.

Japanese soldiers during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 looted the monument, which then rested in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo before being returned to Korea.