Four South Koreans held over theft of Tsushima Buddhist statue
The Japan Times (KYODO) Nov, 25, 2014
Four South Korean men were taken into police custody Monday on suspicion of stealing a Buddha statue from a temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, local police said.
The four men, whose ages range from 47 to 70, allegedly committed several thefts of local cultural assets as a team, the police said. Their immediate charge is the theft Monday morning of a Buddha statue from a temple in the town of Mitsushima on the island, which is located in the Sea of Japan midway between the two countries.
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Was this butt-ugly statuette really a "gift" from Silla Korean kingdom?
Or, was the statuette of Buddha "presented" to Nagasaki Prefecture's Bairinji temple in the 9th century as forced tribute?
The previous times Koreans stole Buddha statues from Japanese temples the statues were tribute that were being repatriated---Stealing back stolen stuff.