Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon holds a regular briefing session, pledging stern countermeasures against China’s attempt to distort Koguryo history on Wednesday at the ministry.

Ban said at a regular briefing at Foreign Ministry headquarters that, "The government will press China to stop its distortions of Koguryo history and correct those distortions."

He said, "The government, in order to prepare for the possibility of Chinese history textbook distortions and to prevent additional distortions, will continue to devote diplomatic efforts and cope with the situation actively by preparing minute and systematic countermeasures at the pan-governmental level. Together with groups like the Koguryo History Research Foundation, the government will bolster efforts to find academic proof that Koguryo history is Korean history through domestic and foreign academic and research exchanges."

Concerning the security of expatriate Koreans, Ban said the Overseas Residents and Consular Affairs Bureau would be expanded and headquarters staff would assist overseas ambassadors in carrying out their duties. A call center would also be established. In order to do this, the ministry would create two task forces for securing budget funds and studying plans for "epoch making" structural reforms in consular service.

Concerning security countermeasures for Koreans residing in Iraq following the deployment of Korean forces to the country, he said, "We will place a complete ban on entering Iraq, and for those who are already in the country, we will continuously advise them to leave Iraq... Moreover, we've agreed with military authorities to have Korean civilians residing in the Arbil region and civilian support workers live inside Korean military bases."

Ban said, "There are still dozens of Koreans in Iraq, and in particular, the number of Korean citizens in the area to which we will deploy troops [Arbil] is gradually rising… The Foreign Ministry, too, is deploying two additional diplomats to the Arbil area."

Concerning the issue of possible exports of strategic materials to North Korea through the Kaesong Industrial Park project, Ban said, "We have begun working group discussions with the United States to actively explain how the materials to be used by those firms entering the Kaesong Industrial Park would ultimately be used and handled by [South] Korea and to find out what influence may come about by U.S. export restrictions on strategic materials." He added, "We will actively work to successfully push the Kaesong project."

(englishnews@chosun.com )