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.
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Canada next week, his first since relations plummeted after the assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist in Vancouver, triggering diplomatic expulsions and hitting trade. Analysts hope it is a step toward repairing ties that soured in 2023, after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed the finger at New Delhi’s involvement in murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claims India furiously denied. An invitation extended by new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Modi to attend the G7 leaders summit in Canada offers a chance to “reset” relations, former Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. “This is a
RSS