Injunction against Return of Stolen Buddhist Statue in Tsushima Island

Regarding the Buddhist statue stolen from Tsushima City in Nagasaki Prefecture and found in South Korea, the Daejeon District Court in central South Korea issued a provisional injunction against the South Korean government returning the statue to Japan. Among the cultural properties stolen by Korean thieves from temples and shrines on Tsushima Island in October 2012 was a seated statue of Kanzeon Bodhisattva, designated as a Nagasaki Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property, owned by Kannonji temple. Buseoksa temple located in Seosan, central South Korea, claimed that the statue was produced at the temple in the 14^th century but was looted by wakō (lit. Japanese pirates), and applied for a provisional injunction to prohibit the return of the statue until it could be determined how it had originally been brought to Japan. In response, the mayor of Tsushima City requested the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration to return the statue in June. (Japanese)