Monks from Buseok Temple in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, visited Kannon Temple on the Japanese island of Tsushima to discuss the issue of the Buddha (Gwaneum Bosal) statue, but the talks failed when Japanese Kannon Temple monks declined to meet.

 

The Buddhist statue was made at Buseok Temple in Seosan around AD 1330, but it was subsequently taken to Japan and enshrined in Kannon Temple. In Oct. 2012, it was brought back into Korea by thieves. When the Korean government nabbed the thieves and confiscated the statue, Japan requested its return. However, in Feb. 2013, a Korean court issued an injunction forbidding the statue to be returned to Japan until such a time as a lawsuit confirms that Kannon Temple acquired the statue through just means.

According to reports by Japanese media including Kyodo News and the Tokyo Shimbun, a group including a monk from Buseok Temple named Wonu, another monk, and former lawmaker Kim Won-ung visited Kannon Temple but the monks there refused to discuss the issue. Later, the Kannon Temple monks were quoted in Japanese media as saying, “The statue of Buddha must be quickly returned.”

 

To know more, please find the orignial article at http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/578331.html

 

other related articles please go to  http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/03/135_131338.html

                                                               http://khnews.kheraldm.com/view.php?ud=20130401000565&md=20130404004841_AP