The Government, “Incorporation of the Koguryo History into China’s is Private Academic Activity”

The Government, “Incorporation of the Koguryo History into China’s is Private Academic Activity”. January. 09, 2004 23:18. by Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com.

On January 9, government authorities announced, “We confirmed that the ‘Northeast Construction Process (NCP),’ intending to incorporate the Koguryo history into China’s, is only a private academic activity, having no concern with Chinese government.”

In the press conference at the ministry of foreign affairs and trade office building, Park Heung-shin, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, made it public, announcing, “The government confirmed it through a diplomat in the foreign country”.

Concerning the criticism of domestic historians that NCP is the political project at the government level in which the deputy presidents of the three northeast castles, including Jilin, participated as responsible people, Park answered, “Considering Chinese custom that lists investor as a responsible person, it is hard to conclude from the mere fact that the government is intervening.”

He added, “Also, the Chinese side notified that it would be undesirable to make a political issue of the academic activity.”

To prevent the spread of this issue, the government expressed the concern to the Chinese side through the Korean embassy at Beijing.

On the other hand, the government authorities suggested the high possibility of incorporating the Koguryo tomb of North Korea into World Heritage, selected by UNESCO.

“At the conference in Paris, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) will evaluate technical items, such as conservation capacity and accessibility,” Park said. “According to the unofficial information, we can almost be positively assured that there is no technical problem.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade grasped that the opinion of ICOMOS is the most influential, even though UNESCO’s final decision will be fixed in June at the 28th World Heritage Committee in Suzhou, China.