Let’s Deal with China’s Historical Distortion Together

Both the ruling and opposition parties have raised the same voice for the historical distortion issue by China at long last.

Chun Jung-bae, floor leader of the ruling Uri Party, on August 6, said,” The fact that the ancient Goguryo kingdom belongs to Korean history has been historically proven. If there has been any attempt by Beijing to distort Goguryo, it can never be accepted.” Chun expressed his disappointment and demanded Beijing to do its best to stop future recurrence, saying, ”We are going to establish a joint response organization in the National Assembly.”

Prior to Chun’s statement, Grand National Party (GNP) floor leader Kim Deok-ryong shared the same idea suggesting, “In our bipartisan effort, we need to adopt a drastic measure toward China’s move and introduce a joint response organization.” In the wake of the row surrounding the Goguryo kingdom, the two sides will jointly address the issue at the parliamentary level.

GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye told a press conference on the same day, arguing, “If we do not do anything about it, the issue could raise catastrophic consequences by dismantling our identity as a whole. Something even worse like severing the origins of a Korean people dating back to Gojoseon (the first Korean kingdom) could happen.” She added, “I am deeply disappointed.”

She also blamed the Korean government saying, “The government’s effort to ‘restore history’ should not remain as a domestic one. While Beijing has invested three trillion won in its historical restoration, Seoul has been even reviewing the Tonghak Revolution in its bid to restore history. However, if it had spent half its effort on informing the world of our history, the dispute would never have happened in the first place.”

In the meantime, 44 law makers of both the ruling and opposition parties, including Uri Rep. Noh, Woong-rae, on the same day, submitted a statement to the Assembly including their proposals to ask China to end the historical distortion, to deal with the issue at the government level, and to introduce a joint measure along with North Korea. They are planning to hold a debate in order to seek a counter measure on August 11. The Democratic Labor Party and The Millennium Democratic Party also joined the move, criticizing,” The Chinese government’s move is unacceptable which can be interpreted as a hegemonic conduct.” The two parties asked the government a strong measure.

Hoon Lee Myoung-Gun Lee dreamland@donga.com gun43@donga.com