Japanese chief monk attends Korean trial on June 15 over stolen Buddhist statue

▲ This file photo shows the statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva brought from Japan to Korea by thieves. (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, June 6 (Yonhap) -- NHK reported on Monday that a Japanese temple official will attend the trial in Korea next week over the ownership of the statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva brought from Japan to Korea by thieves.

According to reports, the chief monk of Kannon Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, who kept the statue before it was brought into Korea, will visit Korea next week and attend a hearing at the Daejeon High Court scheduled for the 15th.

This is the first time that a temple official will participate in the trial, and the chief monk will urge the court to return the statue quickly, NHK said.

"We will appeal again that the ownership (of the Buddha statue) is on our side, as stated in the letter already submitted," the chief monk said.

In November last year, the court allowed Kannon Temple's supplementary participants to apply.
 

Article 71 (Supplementary Intervention) of the Civil Procedure act stipulates that any third party interested in the result of a lawsuit may intervene in the lawsuit pending before the court in order to assist either party.

In October 2012, the Korean thieves stole the gilt-bronze statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which was kept in Kannon Temple, and brought it to Korea through Busan Port.

After receiving a request from the Japanese government, the Korean police and the Cultural Heritage Administration conducted an investigation and arrested the group in early 2013, and the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage later kept the statue.

Temple officials claim the statue was illegally plundered by Japan.

Buseok Temple, filed a lawsuit against the Seoul government in April to take back the statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in 2016.

The Daejeon District Court ruled in favor of Buseok Temple and said in the first trial, "Based on (Buseok Temple's) statements during court hearings and onsite inspections, it is assumed that its ownership of the statue is sufficiently acknowledged. Considering its historical, religious values, (the government) has the responsibility to return it to the plaintiff,” in January 2017.

However, as the Japanese side demanded that the statue be returned to Korea, the second trial is underway after the Korean government appealed the ruling.

The other statue stolen by the same thieves, the bronze standing figure of the Tathagata Buddha, was returned to Japan in July 2016.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by An Hayeon.)

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