A Buddhist priest from Japan plans to attend a court hearing in South Korea later this month to lay his temple's claim to an ancient statue being held by the government there.

The figure of bodhisattva in the lotus position was stolen in 2012 from Kannonji, a Buddhist temple on Tsushima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.

It was later found in South Korea, where a court ordered it be handed over to Buseok Temple. The South Korean temple argued in court that the figure was previously stolen from the Korean Peninsula by Japanese pirates in medieval times. It won a court case in 2017 in South Korea, leading to an order that the government hand over the statue to Buseok.

The South Korean government appealed the ruling to a higher court.

Last November, a South Korean high court approved the Japanese temple's participation in hearings as a third party with interests.

Kannonji says its chief priest Tanaka Setsuryo will visit South Korea to attend a hearing in Daejeon on June 15.

Tanaka told NHK that he plans to reiterate his claim that the statue belongs to his temple.