The archive functions as a key repository of Korean historical records and a centre for research and publication of an annual journal titled Kyujanggak.

The Korean Government tried to retrieve the royal documents through a permanent lease, since French law prohibits its national assets being transferred abroad.

In 2010, a Seoul-based civic group spearheaded the return but the request to exclude illegally obtained property from its list of national assets was rejected by a Paris court.

[8] In 1922, during the Japanese occupation of Korea many volumes of books including 167 of Uigwe, along with some 1,000 other relics, stored at the main Gyujanggak library at Changdeokgung were also taken to Japan.

In August 2010, then-Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced the return of the Uigwe to mark the centenary of the Japanese annexation of Korea.

In addition, it has royal, government, private documents, such as land transactions and power of attorney and maps on natural geography and the state of society of Joseon Dynasty.