The “Gilt-bronze Gwaneum Bodhisattva Statue (Buddhist statue) of the Goryeo Dynasty, which was stolen from a Japanese temple and brought into Korea by the Korean cultural heritage theft group, is being handed over to Japan.
According to Kyodo News and the Sankei Shimbun on the 16th (local time), officials from 觀音 Temple and Tsushima City in Tsushima Island, Japan, plan to visit the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in Daejeon, Korea, where the Buddha statue is currently stored, to check the condition of the statue and take over ownership.
However, as Japan has decided to lend the Buddha statue to Seosan Buseoksa Temple, which claimed ownership of the Buddha statue for a while, the actual transfer work to Tsushima Island is expected to take place in May.
Buseoksa Temple expressed its desire to hold a Buddhist ritual for 100 days before delivering the Buddha statue, and the Ganmunji reportedly expressed its intention to tolerate it on the condition of a “certain return.”
The Gilt-bronze Gwaneum Bodhisattva statue is 50.5cm high and weighs 38.6kg, and was made to enshrine it at Buseoksa Temple in Seoju in the early 14th century during the Goryeo Dynasty, but it is believed that Japanese pirates looted it at the end of Goryeo.
In October 2012, nine Korean cultural property thieves stole the Buddha statue, which had been stored in the Japanese Kanonji, and brought it into Korea. The group was caught by the police while trying to dispose of the Buddha statue for 2.2 billion won, and the Buddha statue was confiscated and is currently kept at the Daejeon National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.
The Korean government tried to return the Buddha statue to Japan, but Buseoksa Temple claimed ownership based on the fact that it was a legacy that had been looted by Japanese pirates in the past.
In this regard, the Supreme Court determined that Japan had the ownership of the Buddha statue in October 2023. The Supreme Court’s judgment at the time was that the ownership of the Buddha statue was normally handed over in accordance with the “acquisition prescription” law, which considered that if it was occupied by someone else for a certain period of time, ownership was transferred.
After seven years of litigation, the ownership of the Buddha statue of a Japanese temple was recognized, but no return has been made so far. Regarding the return discussion, Kyodo News evaluated, “One of the problems that caused the Korea-Japan relations to be twisted has moved forward toward a solution.”
