[MSN] Art theft suspect seen as part of network

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Art theft suspect seen as part of network

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A 48-year-old South Korean man, who was arrested on suspicion of stealing a number of items considered cultural assets, is believed to have approached one of the original owners to offer him the chance to buy back a stolen Buddhist painting, it has been learned.

Kim Jae Chil is currently on trial for stealing Korean Buddhist paintings from the 10th to 14th centuries, including ones designated cultural assets of national importance. The paintings were taken from two temples, one in Aichi Prefecture in August 2005 and the other in Fukui Prefecture in September 2006.

According to the police, Kim came to Japan and visited Kakurinji temple in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, in May 2005. He is said to have arranged a meeting with a resident priest, Eisei Miki, 69, at a hotel in Seoul, and to have asked him to buy back a Korean Buddhist painting designated an important cultural asset that had been stolen from the temple in July 2002 by another criminal gang.

No sale was agreed upon at the time.

Kim is quoted by police as saying: "I met a man at a casino in Seoul, calling himself Pak, who claimed to be a company president. He told me that if I sold the painting to the original owner for 30 million yen, he would pay me 6 million yen."

The police suspect Kim is part of a network dealing in stolen goods.

In 1995, about the same time a TV program on antique appraisals became popular in South Korea, the number of thefts of antique artwork in that country increased sharply.

The Seoul Police Agency last year arrested a man who had stolen 2,358 Buddhist statues or paintings, worth about 1.05 billion yen, from across the country.

In Japan, 52 pieces of artwork and other crafts designated as cultural assets of national importance, including eight national treasures, were still missing as of October 2006, according to the Cultural Affairs Agency.

The Buddhist scripture, "Dai Hannya Kyo," which is designated an important national cultural asset, was stolen in 1994 from Ankokuji temple in Nagasaki Prefecture, and then discovered to have been designated as a Korean national treasure in 1995.

The Japanese government asked the South Korean government to cooperate with its investigation into the case, but procuratorial authorities in Seoul said the last buyer was bona-fide as they did not know the item had been stolen. The scripture has therefore not been returned to Japan.

According to the agency, other than in museums, the security in place for cultural assets in Japan is relatively light.

"All we can do is call for a tightening of security to prevent the artworks from being stolen," an agency spokesman said.
(Feb. 26, 2007)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/