Twenty-Five Lawmakers Urge China to Stop Distorting Koguryu History

A group of 25 lawmakers, including Rep. Kwon Oh-eul of the Millennium Democratic Party and Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the Grand National Party, on Thursday submitted a resolution urging China to stop distorting its history to the National Assembly, criticizing the Chinese government for trying to include the history of Koguryu to itself.

The resolution condemns the North East China History Correction Project, which the Chinese government has been pushing ahead since last year with a five-year budget of 20 billion yuan (about 3 trillion won), arguing the intention of the project is to absorb the history of Koguryu into that of China. "If the project begins to take shape, the foundation and identity of the Korean history, ranging from Koguryu to Ko-chosun, will be shaken," the resolution argues.

The resolution also urges that the Korean government step up joint countermeasures with related state departments against China`s attempt to include or distort Koguryu`s history, and that the two Koreas should prepare joint measures against China`s ambition in falsifying its history.

In the meantime, the government decided to establish two joint Korean and Chinese history research institutes, one in the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development and the other in the Academy of Korean Studies, to make it possible to study the ancient history systemically, and it also decided to organize a Joint Northeast Asia Research Institute that the two Koreas, China, and Mongolia participate in.

The government, however, plans to make diplomatic efforts through its channels, for instance by expressing our concerns over Chinese scholars’ distortion of the Koguryu history and negative impacts the distortion would inflict on both nations.

Young-Sik Kim Seung-Heon Lee spear@donga.com ddr@donga.com