Korean temple intends to return Buddha statue, but presents conditions = Last year, the Korean Supreme Court recognized ownership of Tsushima temple, but...

The Puseok Temple in Seosan, central South Korea, which claimed ownership of a Buddhist statue stolen from Kannonji Temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and brought to South Korea, has indicated that it will not oppose its return.
The Supreme Court of Korea ruled in October last year that the statue belonged to Kannonji Temple, but it has yet to be returned.
The temple has informed the Japanese side that it will not oppose the return of the remains, provided that the temple itself holds a memorial service for the deceased. The temple said that it will receive a letter of consent from the Japanese temple as early as next week, but according to Nagasaki TV,
According to the Japan Times, Kannonji Temple's chief priest, Setsuryu Tanaka, said he has no plans to respond in any particular way. Given the discrepancy, many online users in Japan have expressed doubts about whether the remains will actually be returned after the memorial service is completed.
Kyodo News also reported that "there are some voices on the Japanese side that are cautious about allowing the memorial service due to concerns about delays in the return and security."
The Kannon Bodhisattva Seated Statue, a tangible cultural property designated by Nagasaki Prefecture and owned by Kannonji Temple, was
In October 2012, it was stolen by a group of Korean thieves and brought to Korea. The following year, in 2013, the group of thieves was arrested by the Korean police and the statue was confiscated, but the Ukiseki Temple said that the statue was "a pirate raider during the Middle Ages."
In 2016, they filed a lawsuit against the South Korean government, demanding that the statue be stopped from being returned to Japan.
This came as a complete surprise to the Korean government. In the first instance, the Korean court ruled that, based on the contents of the records found inside the Buddha statue and the fact that Japanese pirates had invaded the Seosan area five times since 1330,
Based on records from the Koryo-sa, the court determined that the statue had been taken from Buseoksa through plunder or other means. In 2017, the court ruled that "it can be reasonably assumed that the statue belongs to Buseoksa," and decided to hand the statue over to the temple.
The ruling caused a backlash from Japan, and was one of the factors that led to the deterioration of Japan-Korea relations. After the first-instance ruling, the Korean government appealed the decision, claiming that the relationship between the statue and the temple had not been sufficiently proven, and relocated it to Daeji, central Korea.
The case was tried again at the Daejeon High Court in Daejeon. In February of last year, the Daejeon High Court overturned the first-instance ruling and acknowledged the ownership of the Kannonji Temple.
"We can confirm that the statue was produced at the Fusekiji Temple in 1930, and there is also evidence that it was plundered and illegally taken away by Japanese pirates," he said. "However, we cannot say that the Fusekiji Temple at that time is the same as the current Fusekiji Temple.
"It cannot be proven that Kannonji is a religious organization," he pointed out. The current ownership is recognized by the "acquisition prescription" under the civil laws of Japan and Korea, which states that Kannonji has peacefully and openly held the property for a certain period of time.
The Supreme Court ruled that the statue belongs to Kannonji Temple. Buseokji Temple appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. In October last year, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit by Buseokji Temple and ruled that the ownership of the statue belongs to Kannonji Temple.
The Supreme Court ruled that the current Buseoksa Temple is the same as the "Seju Buseoksa Temple" that produced the Buddha statue in the 14th century, but upheld the ruling of the second instance that the "prescription of acquisition" under the Civil Code had been established.
He pointed out that the South Korean government needs to consider international norms and consider the matter. It has been 11 years since the Buddha statue was stolen, and this issue, along with the former forced labor lawsuit issue, has been one of the causes of the deterioration of Japan-South Korea relations.
It was thought that the matter would finally be resolved and the process of returning the statue to Japan would begin, but the statue has yet to be returned. According to multiple Japanese media reports, in June of this year, the temple
The government sent a letter to the temple saying that it would not oppose the return of the statue, on the condition that a 100-day memorial service to pray for the statue's safety is held at Ukisekiji Temple.
According to the report, the reason why Buseoksa Temple indicated that it would not oppose the return of the temple was due to an attempt by Korean political circles to mediate. Sankei reported, "This move comes just before the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea next year, and Korean
"It is believed that a leading figure in the conservative ruling party, the People's Power, was behind this," the report said. However, some online in Japan have questioned the fact that Ushio Temple has said it will not oppose the return of the temple on the condition that a memorial service be held.
The Korean media Maeil Business introduced a comment posted on an article on the Japanese portal site Yahoo Japan.
If they accept the demands, we will be back to square one. There is absolutely no need to make concessions," and other comments like these garnered "many 'I agree' clicks."
According to Nagasaki Television, Kannonji Temple's chief priest, Setsuryu Tanaka, said, "The statue is under the control of the state. It is not right for Ukishiji Temple to 'return' it."
Shoku said, "Unless we can get a guarantee that the item will be returned and that it will be transported to Tsushima, we cannot trust them so easily."