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The government will strongly respond to Chinese attempts to distort the history of the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, the root of legitimacy of the Korean race and Korean nation, in history textbooks to be used in Chinese elementary, middle and high schools from next September. The government said it views the use of distorted textbooks as the "firing sight" of the Sino-Korean relationship.
The government said that when Park Joon-woo, chief of the foreign ministry's Asia-Pacific Affairs Bureau, visited China last week, he warned the Chinese that Korea would never tolerate China changing its textbooks to distort Koguryo history, and that Sino-Korean ties, which have developed since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Beijing in August 1992, would face a crisis.
A government official said Tuesday that at the time, Park warned, "Should the Chinese government attempt to distort the history of Koguryo, the base of legitimacy of the Korean race and nation, we would never tolerate it. We are prepared to sacrifice anything."
The official added that even after that, the government has been continuously conveying this position to high-ranking Chinese government figures through official and unofficial diplomatic channels.
He said that while the issue involving the deletion of Koguryo history from the Korean history section on the Chinese Foreign Ministry homepage was a problem, the government was paying real attention to how the Chinese government handles its expected history textbook revisions this year in preparation for use in the fall semester of 2005. He warned, "If the Chinese government attempts history textbook distortion, our government will stake everything on defending the pride of the Korean race."
On a radio show this morning, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, chief of the government's countermeasures committee handling the Koguryo history issue, said, "The urgent focus of our interest as of now is how China will distort [Koguryo history] in its textbooks, and how we'd respond should those distortions be carried out... We will strongly demand that textbook distortions not take place, while at the same time responding to this issue academically."
Lee added, "I think China knows very well just how seriously the Korean government, public, press and politicians are scrutinizing this issue."
In particular, when asked whether Korea could practically adopt certain measures like strengthening relations with Taiwan, recalling the Korean ambassador from Beijing, and suspending summit-level diplomacy with China, Lee left open those possibilities should the situation deteriorate, saying, "We will watch the situation and employ appropriate diplomatic measures. There is no need for us to talk of completely ruling out the use of those cards."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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