South Korea and China have settled a row over an ancient kingdom that disappeared more than 1,000 years ago, officials said yesterday, mending a rift in the two countries' flourishing ties.
China agreed not to lay claim to the state of Koguryo, which straddled modern Manchuria from 57BC to 668AD, after both countries' officials reached a "verbal understanding," South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said.
Clash of cultures
Koreans believe their ancestors founded the kingdom, which is rich in archeological relics -- including priceless paintings on the murals of burial sites -- and regard it as part of their national identity.
But they were outraged earlier this year when a state-funded Chinese history project claimed that Koguryo was always part of China.
"China is mindful of the fact that the Koguryo question has emerged as a serious pending issue between the two countries," Ban said of the agreement, which was not put in writing.
The vaguely worded "understanding" did not specifically mention China's promise not to claim the kingdom as its history, but the two sides agreed to take it as meaning just that, another South Korean foreign ministry official said.
It also called for efforts to prevent the dispute from turning into a major political issue and to organize academic exchanges on the matter, the official said.
China, however, did not accept Seoul's demand that Beijing's foreign ministry restore deleted references to Koguryo from its Web site on Korean history.
In its heyday, Koguryo -- which is also known as Koryo, the origin of the name Korea -- encompassed much of what is now the border between China and North Korea.
It vanished after being conquered by China's Tang dynasty.
South Korean politicians were up in arms over the row, accusing the Chinese government of attempting to rob Koreans of one of the gems of their cultural heritage.
China's news media had also waded into the dispute, claiming that Koguryo was a provincial government of China under the central authority of Beijing.
However, the two sides have now agreed to make joint efforts to prevent the historical row undermining ties which have been developing fast since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.
China was particularly concerned by the prospect of a reunified North and South Korea making claims on the area formerly covered by the ancient nation.
"Although this is not included in the points of understanding, China showed acute reactions to claims by some Korean politicians and scholars that the Chinese far-eastern provinces [that used to be Koguryo territory] should be returned to Korea," Ban said.
"China called for the [South Korean] government to restrain them," he added.
North Korea, which lovingly maintains Koguryo tombs and relics on its territory, has so far remained silent on the dispute with China, a key ally of the Stalinist state.
united in anger
The dispute is one of the few issues to unite ruling and opposition parties in South Korea at a time of deep divisions on key issues including North Korea, the lackluster economy and the US-led war in Iraq.
The accord on Monday came after China's newly appointed vice minister, Wu Dawei, flew to Seoul on Sunday for a series of meetings with South Korean officials.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,
RSS