It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

HISTORY WARS CONTINUED: Seoul will take a "firm stance" on conflict with China over Koguryo/Goguryeo.

South Korea will take a firm stance on the Chinese assertion that Korea's ancient Goguryeo Dynasty was part of its legacy, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.

Civic groups have accused the government of failing to take proper measures to tackle the issue.

Mindful of the ongoing academic debate between the two countries developing into any diplomatic conflicts, Ban also said the government would respond coolly to the sensitive issue.

This will be sure to encourage open and objective inquiry on the subject in South Korea. Imagine if you are a scholar who has doubts about the utility and validity of forcing present-day ethnic identities back on to peoples of two millennia ago. Would you make your concerns known? Would you be respected for your courage?

Public uproar has skyrocketed since the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Science launched the "Northeast Asia Project," in which it claimed the Manchuria-based kingdom belonged to the Chinese legacy, while denying continuity between the dynasty (37 B.C.-A.D. 668) and the Korean Peninsula.

"We will handle the issue based on the unwavering fact that Goguryeo is an inseparable part of our national history," Ban said during a weekly news briefing.

The Korea Herald reporter uses the History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk sagi; »ï±¹»ç±â; ß²ÏÐÞÈÑÀ) dates for the founding of Koguryo. The historical validity of these dates are questioned by virtually all objective scholars. Will any South Korean scholar even dare to mention this fact (e.g. that Koguryo probably didn't coalesce together as a recognizable state until late 1st century A.D.) in today's politically charged climate? Not likely.