Curiosity, love for art and an interest in a long-term investment made Frans Broersen (owner of Springtime Art Foundation) decide to visit North Korea. With intensive negotiations and help from the North Korean Embassy in London, he finally got the invitation from Ministry of Culture of North Korea. After his first visit Frans was confident of the possibilities and quality of North Korean art. Back home he formed a team of people to combine knowledge, money and workforce to start purchasing works of art. Several visits and many acquisitions later the Kaesong Collection took its shape.

To show these hidden treasures to the public, a selection of art works from the Kaesong Collection were exhibited in the National Museum of Lithuania in Vilnius (2008). It was the first time ever that a North Korean art exhibition was held in Europe and it became the most successful exhibition in the history of the museum. A second successful exhibition took place at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga. A planned exhibition in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul was cancelled due to rising tensions between North and South Korea.