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Korean historians have joined forces to criticize the Chinese government for falsifying the history of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-668), an ancient Korean kingdom. In a statement issued by 17 historical societies, including the Korean Ancient Historical Association and the Korean Archaeological Society Tuesday, the societies urged China to stop trying incorporate Goguryeo into Chinese history.
According to the statement, the Chinese government has been deliberately falsifying historical data on Goguryeo since last year, in order to incorporate the ancient Korean kingdom into a Chinese historical timeline. ¡°They even claim that Goguryeo people had originated from the Chinese Han race. But just like we saw with the Japanese textbooks, such a hegemonic historical view will only strain China¡¯s relations with its neighboring countries,¡± the statement said.
The historians argued that Goguryeo, which occupied Manchuria and the central and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula, was a part of the long Korean history spanning from Ancient Chosun through Korea¡¯s Three Kingdoms Period, to Unified Shilla and Balhae.
In addition, the statement demanded that the Korean government file an official protest against the action, calling for a correction, as well as set up a research center for ancient Northeast Asian history, and support the North Korean effort to put Goguryeo tombs on the list of UNESCO¡¯s World Cultural Heritage.
(Yoo Seok-jae, karma@chosun.com )
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