A group of South Korean historians will visit Paris in September to examine ancient Korean books looted by French naval forces in 1866 as part of a bilateral swap agreement.
In the three-day talks with South Korea that ended Wednesday, France agreed to allow Korean experts to take a first-hand look at the 297 books, call called "Oegyujanggak," kept at the French National Library in Paris.
In the talks, Han Sang-jin, President Kim Dae-jung's chief policy advisor, led the South Korean delegation and the French delegation was represented by Jacques Sallois.
The inspection is part of a book-swap agreement under which France will return the Oegyujanggak books in exchange for other ancient South Korean documents of similar value.
The swap is part of an agreement reached by Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Jacques Chirac at their meeting last October.
Officials said sixty-seven of the 297 books, for which no copies exist, will be subject to the first-round of inspections by Korean historians.