By AKIHIKO KAISE/ Correspondent
December 26, 2024 at 15:45 JST
SEOUL—A South Korean temple has reiterated its agreement to return a stolen Buddhist statue to its rightful owner, a Japanese temple, under the condition that a ritual be held in South Korea before shipping it to Japan.
Buseoksa temple, located in South Korea’s South Chungcheong province, announced on Dec. 25 its plan to conduct a 100-day ritual featuring the disputed statue at the temple around the period of March to May next year.
Earlier this year, the South Korean temple proposed to Kannonji temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, that it would no longer oppose the return of the artifact if the local community is allowed to worship it during such a ritual.
The two temples have since been in negotiations.
"We are still in talks with the Korean side," said Setsuryo Tanaka, Kannonji temple's chief priest, on Dec. 25.
"Nothing is officially decided yet. We want a solid guarantee that the statue will definitely be returned," he added.
The statue of the Kanzeon Bodhisattva was stolen from the Japanese temple in 2012 by South Korean burglars.
The thieves were arrested the following year and the statue was confiscated by the South Korean government.
The sculpture is a tangible cultural property of the Japanese prefecture.
Despite the request from Kannonji temple and the Japanese government to return the statue, the South Korean temple claimed ownership, arguing that the artifact was looted from Korea by Japanese pirates in medieval times.
In October last year, South Korea’s supreme court ruled that the statue belongs to the Japanese temple.
While recognizing the looting as a historical fact, the court acknowledged that the Japanese temple had possessed the statue long enough to acquire legal ownership.
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