Ruling on stolen Buddhist statue taken from Japan

This undated photo shows an ancient Buddhist statue, which was stolen from a Japanese temple in 2012, being kept at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in Daejeon, central South Korea, in this photo released by the institute on Feb. 2, 2023. An appellate court has ruled that the 50.5-centimeter-tall statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva belongs to Kannon Temple on Tsushima Island in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Nagasaki, overturning a lower court's ruling that acknowledged the ownership of it to be Buseok Temple in Seosan on South Korea's western coast. Buseok Temple had filed a lawsuit against the Seoul government to take back the statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, saying it was made in the early 14th century by artisans in the ancient Korean kingdom of Goryeo (918-1392) and looted by Japanese pirates hundreds of years ago. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) (END)