By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
A leading opposition party leader on Monday underlined the necessity of joining forces with Asian countries or territories, including Tibet, to deal with China’s attempt to distort the history of the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo.
”International cooperation with China’s neighbors is necessary for us to deal with its efforts to twist history,” Rep. Kim Moon-soo of the Grand National Party said in an interview with The Korea Times.
His remarks came amid increasing diplomatic tension between South Korea and China over the latter’s alleged distortion of historical records involving the ancient country, which controlled the northern part of the Korean peninsula from 37 B.C. to A.D. 668.
The third-term lawmaker, who had visited China for a fact-finding mission from Aug. 7 to 10, also alleged that the Seoul government should grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, if Korean Buddhist organizations invite him to Seoul.
Tibet was an independent state before an invasion by troops of the People’s Liberation Army of China in 1949. China considers the Dalai Lama a separatist movement leader.
”Even though such an invitation from the religious circle here would cause grave diplomatic friction with China, the government should grant it to him because South Korea has the freedom of religion,” Kim, 53, said.
Buddhists here last sought the Dalai Lama’s visit to Seoul during the former Kim Dae-jung administration. Then, the government didn’t issue a visa for fear of diplomatic conflict with China.
Kim, however, warned that Seoul should not provoke Beijing by directly inviting the Dalai Lama, saying it would be seen as nothing but a ”shallow trick” to agitate Beijing, which has so far kept quiet despite Seoul’s constant protest over the history issue.
”I think China is showing its confidence as it gains economic power,” Kim said. ”Beijing seems to be quietly confident that it can further surpass Seoul.”
The labor-activist-turned legislator explained that the basic idea of Sinocentrism, a Chinese nationalism referring to their prevailing belief that China is the center of the world, is to consider other neighboring countries as subordinates.
”There is nobody who accepts that idea at present,” Kim said. ”I believe other regions, such as Tibet, Vietnam, Cambodia and Mongolia, have the potential to join us and refute this Sinocentrism. We need to cooperate with them to correct the history distortion.”
He found the reason for China’s misrepresentation of Koguryo history lies in anxiety over its territorial integrity.
”The biggest concern for China at this moment is to keep its territorial integrity because the country is too big and there are too many races,” Kim said. ”It seems like Beijing is trying to preserve its integrity by clarifying the current borderline.”
Being composed of many races, Chinese historians have written history based on China’s territorial boundary, rather than its races.
”The two Koreas also have to cooperate with each other to preserve historic relics of the Koguryo kingdom in the North,” said Kim, who is planning to visit Pyongyang later next month.
Citing the example of China, which had invested around 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) before registering Koguryo remains in China in the world heritage list of the UNESCO, Kim said Seoul needs to provide financial assistance to Pyongyang for the preservation of the Koguryo relics in the northern part of the peninsula.
Much of Koguryo is now China’s Manchuria, still home to millions of ethnic Koreans.
Scholars in Seoul have argued that China is worried about losing sovereignty over the eastern part of Manchuria because a reunified Korea in the future may claim that area as its territory.
The conflict emerged as a diplomatic issue earlier this year after a state-funded Chinese research project claimed Koguryo was a provincial government of China.
im@koreatimes.co.kr
