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What you are seeing now is a 'gilt-bronze seated statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva', which is estimated to have been made around 1330 during the Goryeo Dynasty.

This Buddha statue in our temple was plundered by Japanese raiders at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, and then Korean thieves stole it back from Tsushima Island in Japan in 2012.

After the crime was revealed, a lawsuit was filed over who should own the Buddha statue, but unlike the first trial, today (1st) the appeals court ruled that the Buddha statue should be returned to the 'Japanese temple'.

Immediately, Japan demanded an immediate return. 



This is TJB Reporter Lee Soo-bok.



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gilt-bronze Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva statue made in the Goryeo Dynasty and moved to Japan, but was returned to Korea by a Korean thief in October 2012.



Buseoksa Temple in Seosan filed a lawsuit against the government, saying that it was right to return the Buddha statue to the original owner as it was plundered by Japanese raiders, and won in the first trial in 2017.



However, the verdict was overturned in the second trial.



The fact that Buseoksa Temple in Seosan, the old place of Seosan in the Goryeo Dynasty, made the statue of Buddha and that the statue was taken over to Japan due to plunder by Japanese pirates is acknowledged based on various evidence, but it is not enough to prove that Buseoksa Temple in Seosan and Buseoksa Temple in Seoju, which filed the lawsuit, are the same place. didn't admit it.



It is said that the ownership of the statue belongs to Kannon Temple in Japan, which was owned before it was stolen.



According to the Japanese Civil Code, which is a governing body under international law, the court held that ownership was recognized by possession for more than 20 years, which is the statute of limitations, from 1953 when Kwaneumsa became a corporation until it was stolen.



However, the court did not make a clear judgment on the issue of the return of the Buddha statue, saying that it should be decided in accordance with cultural property-related laws and international agreements.



Buseoksa, who received this second trial ruling, protested the judge's judgment, saying that it has never been destroyed since it was founded.



[Lee Sang-geun/Standing Representative of the Buseoksa Temple Enshrinement Committee: Even if the Buseoksa Temple is excavated and investigated, to find the evidence found and to prove that the current Buseoksa Temple is the same as the past Buseoksa Temple (we will do our best)]



After analyzing the ruling, the Buseoksa Temple side , announced that it would continue the legal battle to the Supreme Court by submitting an appeal.



(Video coverage: Hwang Yunseong TJB)