Unfortunate history could be transformed into today's goodwill

It should have been returned to Japan earlier. You can't keep stolen property while demanding the returns of looted cultural properties. In October 2012, Korean thieves smuggled the gilt-bronze Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva sculpture of the Goryeo Dynasty from Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, into Korea.

On October 26, the Supreme Court definitively ruled in favor of a Japanese temple as the rightful owner of the Buddha sculpture. Ten years and nine months have passed since the thieves were caught in January 2013.

During this period, court decisions have been fluctuating. In 2017, the initial trial ruled that the statue stolen from Kannonji should be handed over to Buseok Temple in Seosan, southwest of Seoul. The court argued that the statue, originally belonging to Buseok Temple, had been stolen or looted long ago and ended up in Japan. Kannonji failed to provide evidence regarding how the statue was acquired. While it is likely that Japanese pirates looted the Buddha statue, it remains a speculative assumption.

The second court ruling, issued in February of this year, overturned the initial decision. It stated that while the looting by Japanese pirates was acknowledged circumstantially, there was insufficient evidence to prove that the early 14th-century Goryeo Seoju Buseok temple, where the Buddha statue was made and enshrined, and the current Buseok temple was the same. The court also ruled that Kannonji owned the statue because the Japanese temple had possessed it for over 20 years since 1953, when Kannonji acquired corporate status under Japanese civil law. Although it followed Japanese law, the conclusion was also the same under Korean civil law.

The Supreme Court identified inaccuracies in some of the conclusions from the second trial. No other temple named Buseoksa was found nearby, and the current Buseoksa was confirmed as the rightful successor to the Goryeo-era Buseoksa. However, the Court emphasized that the mere possibility of illegal theft does not diminish Kannonji's ownership.

It was a lengthy legal battle, yet fundamentally straightforward. Like anyone else, I desire to see looted or unauthorized cultural property returned to its rightful place in its home country. However, the fact that something was taken by force doesn't justify stealing it again.

It is understandable that the venerable temple and its Buddhists want the statue returned to its rightful place. However, even if the statue had been given to the Buseok Temple without being returned, it would still be labeled as the ‘Buddha statue that had been looted but stolen back.’

The government is expected to negotiate the return process for the Buddha statue, currently stored at the National Institute of Cultural Property.

I want to suggest to Kannonji to donate the Buddha statue to Korea. I understand how that might sound, asking for the return of a statue that has been an object of worship for hundreds of years. The longstanding legal battle could potentially foster bitter feelings, too.

However, Buddha would be pleased if we could transform the negative karmic relationship into a positive one. It seems that a karmic connection brought the Buddha statue to Japan initially, and the theft by Korean thieves created another layer of karmic ties. The controversy over the Buddha statue has also disrupted events such as the Joseon Tongsinsa (Korean missions to Japan) event in Tsushima, Japan, and the joint exhibition of cultural properties between Japan and Korea. Koreans would be heartened to see Kannonji as a catalyst for fostering friendship between Japan and Korea.

The Japanese government should also step up. When signing an agreement on cultural property between Korea and Japan in 1965, the Japanese government stated that Japan's donation of Korean cultural properties to Korea would contribute to cultural cooperation between the two countries and should be encouraged. Even an unfortunate history can be transformed into today's goodwill.