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It has been a little over a month since the Blue House opened, and the number of visitors has already exceeded 800,000.

These days, the Blue House Buddha statue, which is called handsome Buddha, is getting a lot of attention, and the Japanese moved it from Gyeongju without permission, so now there are voices asking to put it back in its place.



This is reporter Im Sang-beom.



<Reporter>



As you climb the narrow and steep trail behind the presidential residence in the Blue House, you will come across a stone seated Buddha statue on a square pedestal in Gyeongju.



[Blue House Commentator: It is said that it is very difficult to sculpt granite because it is very hard and the grain is thick.

You can see that the folds of the clothes are expressed very precisely...

]



As the name suggests, the original place of the Buddha statue is Gyeongju.



Built in the 9th century, the story of how this Buddha came to Seoul dates back 110 years.



Terauchi Masadake, who was appointed as the first governor of colonial Joseon, tried to bring Seokguram to Japan.



[Park Im-gwan/Director of Gyeongju Research Institute: I am ordering to dismantle the main Buddha of Seokguram Grotto and the entire cave and move it to Seoul.

However, it is impossible to move that large Buddha image to so many stones.]



Instead, Terauchi paid attention to the Isa Buddha statue, which closely resembles the main Buddha of Seokguram Grotto.



[Park Im-gwan / Director of Gyeongju Research Institute: It is said that he coveted it.

When Ryozo Kodaira (a Japanese who was active in Gyeongju) saw this, he just sent it to Seoul (then Gyeongseong).]



After moving to the current Blue House through Namsan, Seoul, I have been living abroad.



Now that the Blue House is open, there are growing calls to put the Buddha statue back in its place even in order to clear the remnants of Japanese colonial rule.



[Kim Yun-geun/CEO of Gyeongju Cultural Heritage Restoration Movement Headquarters: It is neither research nor academic reason, and especially since the method taken is very unfair, it should be returned to



its original place .]

not opposed to



However, follow-up procedures for verification and restoration are required, and above all, the final decision of the presidential office, which is still in charge of managing the facilities in the Blue House, remains.



(Video coverage: Shin Dong-hwan, video editing: Lee Hong-myeong, CG: Seo Hyun-joong)