Handover Ceremony for Stolen Buddha Statue Held in S. Korea
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Daejeon, South Korea, Jan. 24 (Jiji Press)--A ceremony to return a stolen Buddha statue to a Japanese temple on Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, was held in the central South Korea city of Daejeon on Friday.
Participants in the handover event included Sekko Tanaka, former chief priest of Kannonji Temple, the original owner of the Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue, people related to South Korea's Buseoksa Temple, which was claiming ownership of the statue and still holds it, and Joo Ho-young, chairman of the South Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union.
Buseoksa, located northwest of Deajeon, is expected to actually return the seated statue after conducting a Buddhist memorial service with it until early May.
"We deeply appreciate many people concerned, including members of the South Korea-Japan and Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians' Unions, for their support," Tanaka said. "We will treasure the statue over generations."
Noting that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea, Joo expressed hope that relations of trust and cooperation established over the cultural property will evolve to a state level and lead people of the neighboring countries to help each other.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]