By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea urged China to stop attempts to distort the history of the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo and suggested that China should first resolve the problems of its own creation with regard to the Koguryo issue, officials here said Monday.
Vice Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin delivered Seoul’s stance to visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei when they met at the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry building in central Seoul.
Choi cited the need for the Chinese government to redress its dropping of the history of Koguryo and the entire ancient Korean history from the Website of its foreign ministry.
Wu made a secretive visit to the ministry to discuss pending bilateral issues, including the dispute over the historical distortion, with Seoul officials.
Recently appointed as the new vice foreign minister on Asian affairs, Wu flew into Seoul on Sunday ahead of the scheduled visit of Jia Qinglin, China’s No. 4 leader, on Thursday.
According to sources, Wu proposed during a closed-door meeting in the morning with Choi that the historical row be addressed through an academic approach rather than a political one.
Choi, however, urged the Chinese government to make its best efforts to solve the problem, which he said was created by its own provocation, before suggesting an academic solution.
``The issue was originally meant to be dealt with academically between scholars of the two nations. But the Chinese government turned it into a political problem by erasing the history of Koguryo from the Internet homepage its foreign ministry,’’ Choi was quoted as telling the visiting Chinese official. ``Proper measures should be taken first.’’
One of the three ancient kingdoms that constituted the ancient Korean history along with Paekche and Silla, Koguryo ruled the upper part of the Korean Peninsula and what is today Manchuria in China between 37 B.C. and A.D. 668.
Koreans, both the South and North, have no doubt that Koguryo is part of their history, but some Chinese scholars have recently laid claim to the kingdom, arguing that it was one of China’s local governments. The Chinese government has taken a stand supportive of that view after rejecting Seoul’s protests.
``Embarrassed by Seoul’s strong protests, China now seems to be trying to settle the dispute in a future-oriented manner so it would not harm the bilateral relations,’’ a ministry official told The Korea Times asking not to be named.
Wu also paid a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in the afternoon.
Known as an expert on South Korea, Wu who served as China’s ambassador to Seoul between 1998 and 2001, expressed hopes that the Seoul-Beijing relationship, which marks its 12th anniversary today, would advance further into a more cooperative one, according to officials.
Jia Qinglin, who is the fourth-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference, is scheduled to visit Seoul at the invitation of South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki. He will pay a courtesy call on President Roh Moo-hyun and meet with ranking government officials and politicians during the visit.
jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr
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