The Supreme Courtroom of South Korea dominated on Thursday {that a} Buddhist statue at the moment in authorities custody should be returned to a Japanese temple, ending a decade-old dispute between temples in each international locations.
South Korean thieves stole the 20-inch gilded bronze statue in 2012 from a Buddhist temple on Tsushima, a Japanese island midway between the 2 international locations. The incident added one more dispute to the contentious relations between the 2 international locations, which have lengthy bickered over historic grievances.
The thieves had been caught in South Korea whereas making an attempt to promote the statue, which has been designated an essential cultural asset in Japan. However Buseoksa, a Buddhist temple in western Korea, claimed the artifact, saying it was made there within the 14th century. The temple gained a courtroom injunction in 2013 stopping its return to Japan.
A authorized battle ensued between Buseoksa and the South Korean authorities. The Japanese temple, Kannonji, and Tokyo weren’t a part of the lawsuit however have demanded the statue’s return. There was no proof that the artifact had been dropped at Japan illicitly, Kannonji stated.
In a ruling in 2017, a provincial courtroom in South Korea stated the statute must be given to Buseoksa on the grounds that it had been taken centuries earlier by Japanese pirates. However in February, an appeals courtroom dominated that the statue belonged to the Japanese temple as a result of it had owned it lengthy sufficient peacefully and publicly.
In a ultimate say on the matter, the Supreme Courtroom stated on Thursday that the present Buseoksa was more likely to be the identical temple the place the statue was initially made. Nevertheless it added that the rightful proprietor was the Japanese temple for a similar cause cited by the appeals courtroom.
Buseoksa known as the ruling outrageous. “It basically legalized the plunder of cultural belongings, saying that should you preserve the plunder lengthy sufficient, it turns into yours,” Buseoksa’s head monk, the Venerable Wonwoo, stated on the telephone. “It implies that should you lose one thing by means of looting, you lose it eternally.”
The statue represents a bodhisattva referred to as Kanzeon in Japan and Gwaneum in South Korea.
Even after the statue is returned to Japan, Buseoksa stated that Buddhists in South Korea would proceed their marketing campaign to steer Japan to return 1000’s of historical artifacts that they stated had been taken centuries in the past by pirates and invaders from Japan.
