A group of 20 historians and politicians announced Friday the launch of a historical trust campaign, which will use private funds to purchase and restore historically significant buildings.

The announcement was made at the site of the headquarters of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service, in Yejang-dong, Seoul.

The trust foundation will hold a fund-raising drive for a project to restore next year the residence of Japan’s governor-general in Korea where an agreement on Korea’s annexation by Japan was signed in 1910.

The restoration will mark the 100th anniversary of the annexation.

The foundation said it also plans to turn four other buildings into museums for human rights and peace in Asia by 2011.

One of the four buildings is the former headquarters of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.