A Buddhist statue stolen from a Japanese temple nearly 13 years ago is returned from South Korea

A 14th-century Buddhist statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, stolen from Japan's Kannonji temple in 2012, sits at Buseok Temple in Seosan, South Korea, Monday, May 5, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO — A 14th century Korean Buddhist statue stolen from a Japanese temple nearly 13 years ago was returned on Monday, following a yearslong legal battle between Japan and South Korea over its ownership that had further strained sensitive ties between the two Asian neighbors.

Dozens of temple members and local residents standing by the roadside applauded to welcome the statue as a truck carrying a wooden container with it arrived at Kannonji, a temple on Japan’s western island of Tsushima.

The statue is expected to be kept at a local museum following a ceremony at the temple later in the day.

The gilt bronze statue Bodhisatva — worshipped for mercy and compassion — is depicted in a sitting position and measures about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in height. It has been designated a cultural asset of the region and was one of two statues stolen in 2012 from Kannonji by thieves who were looking to sell them in South Korea.

The South Korean government had returned the other statue to the Japanese temple soon after the authorities recovered it from the thieves, who were arrested and charged.

But the Bodhisatva got trapped in legal dispute after Buseoksa, a South Korean temple in the western coastal city of Seosan, filed a lawsuit, claiming it as the rightful owner.

South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2023 ruled in favor of the Japanese temple, ordering the South Korean temple to return the statue. After all the paperwork was completed in January, the statue remained on a 100-day loan to the South Korean temple for a farewell exhibit.

The temple in South Korea said it was saddened by the statue’s return and insisted it was the rightful owner.

“All our faithful ... feel like crying,” Woonou, the temple’s chief monk, told The Associated Press over the phone. He insisted that Japan “plundered” the statue from Korea and deserves “international condemnation.”

Sekko Tanaka, a former head monk at Kannonji, told reporters that the handover ceremony at the South Korean temple on Saturday was “truly amicable and we shook hands.”

“A calm after a storm,” he said, adding that he felt relieved to see the dispute resolved while he is still alive.

Tanaka said he hoped South Koreans would visit Tsushima and discover its centuries-old cultural ties with Korea, though there will now be higher security around the statue.

Japan and South Korea have long had disputes over Japanese atrocities during its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, though their ties improved due to shared concern over regional security.

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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press