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Professor Kim Woo-jun from Yonsei University explains the old Chinese maps which recognize Koguryo as an ancient country of the Korean Peninsula.
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Ancient Chinese maps that show that China acknowledged Koguyro as an independent nation on the Korean Peninsula along with Baekje and Shilla have been revealed. Professor Kim Woo-jun of Yonsei University introduced five maps Monday in which Koguryo was marked within the territory of the Korean Peninsula.
These maps were made in China and they can be found in the "The Ancient Map Collection of China," which was produced in 2000, and in the "Selected Old Maps of China," which was produced in 1998 by Harbin Map Publishers.
One of the maps was made in 1209 during Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and it marked every dynasty in China and on the Korean Peninsula since the Warring States period.
Koryo, Shilla and Baekje can be seen on the map to the south of the Yalu River and Kochosun can be found in Manchuria.
Another map, produced during the Qing Dynasty, contains old and new names of many nations of the southern and northern part of China. It says that Chosun (as Korea was called between 1392 and 1910) used to be called Baekje, Shilla and Koryo in the past.
Apart from these maps, two other maps which were produced in 1185 and 1247 correspondently mark "Koryo, Baekje and Shilla" and "Koryo, Shilla, Yeojin and Barhae" as nations of the Korean Peninsula.
Professor Kim explained, "Chinese history books and maps often use the name 'Koryo' rather than 'Koguryo,' and these maps show that Chinese people recognized Koguryo as one of the three kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula,"
(Lee Sun-min, smlee@chosun.com )
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