Korean text damages Japanese heritage-listed temple

By Ko Dong-hwan

Korean text has been carved into the wall of a UNESCO heritage-listed Japanese temple.

Police said cleaners found the damage in the Todai-ji Buddhist temple complex in Nara Prefecture on Tuesday, NHK reported.

Three Korean letters, 40 centimeters wide by 10 centimeters high, appeared to have been carved by a pointed object, police said.

Next to the word was the carved image of an eye.

Police are treating the incident as an offence against the cultural heritage protection law. They have security camera video taken at the scene.

The complex is described on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list as one of the "historic monuments of ancient Nara.”

Its Great Buddha Hall houses the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as “Daibutsu.”