| [ history ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): Lina (Inverse) 날 짜 (Date): 2004년 8월 27일 금요일 오전 03시 43분 49초 제 목(Title): [펌] NY Times 기사 서울발 기사라서인지 전체적인 뉘앙스는 한국쪽 입장에 호의적입니다. 기본적으로 중국이 관제역사가를 동원해서, 적어도 전까지는 한국 역사로 인정되던 것을 뺏어가려 한다는 느낌에 가까울 듯. 친중 or 친(일 and 미) 라는 현실인식은 뭐.. 미국 입장에서 쓴 기사라는 걸 감안하면 어쩔 수 없을 듯. (사실 현실에 꽤 가깝기도 하고..) 몇백만의 조선족들과 그 자치구가 통일 이후 딴생각을 품지 못하도록 먼저 치고 나온 것이라는 설명인데, 지금 상황에선 가장 핵심에 근접한 것이 아닐지.. 북한땅을 욕심낸다는 건 아직은 억측이라고 봅니다. source : http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/international/asia/25korea.html ------------------------------------------- China Fears Once and Future Kingdom By JAMES BROOKE Published: August 25, 2004 EOUL, South Korea, Aug. 24 - Highlighting history's weight in modern Asia, China and South Korea, two of the region's closest economic partners, tried to patch over the sharpest crisis in 12 years of diplomatic relations by agreeing Tuesday to discuss calmly the boundaries of a kingdom that disappeared from maps 1,300 years ago. Advertisement China may be South Korea's largest trading partner and South Korea may be China's largest source of new foreign investment, but that did not prevent South Koreans from taking on their huge neighbor this summer over the boundaries of Koguryo, a kingdom of hunting tribes that ruled much of modern-day North Korea and northeastern China from 37 B.C. to A.D. 668, when it was conquered by China's Tang dynasty. Koreans see the kingdom as the forerunner of their nation, a flourishing civilization that bequeathed to modern Korea its name. In July, Koguryo tombs and murals in North Korea were given World Heritage status, the first such listing by Unesco for the Communist country. But while protesters dressed as ancient Koguryo horsemen picketed the Chinese Embassy here, China's state-controlled New China News Agency recently called the kingdom a "subordinate state that fell under the jurisdiction of the Chinese dynasties and was under the great influence of China's politics, culture and other areas." Earlier this year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry deleted references to Koguryo from the Korean history section on its Web site. For two years, a Chinese government study group, the Northeast Project, has been issuing academic papers bolstering the position that the ancient kingdom was merely a Chinese vassal state. Behind the campaign, China fears that one day the two million ethnic Koreans in northeastern China will support a "greater Korea" that will spill over modern borders. "The history of Koguryo is related to Korea's politics, society, diplomacy and security today and in the future," Kim Woo Jun, a diplomatic history professor at Yonsei University, said in an interview on Tuesday. "Fundamentally, China wants to have complete control over the areas where ethnic Koreans reside. They are getting ready for the future." Suddenly, this summer, South Korea's love affair with China soured. In a survey early this year, 80 percent of South Korean parliamentarians said China was South Korea's most important economic partner. By contrast, in a survey of lawmakers this month, only 6 percent of the respondents showed a similar esteem for China. Now, editorialists routinely warn South Koreans about "Sinocentrism," the rise of "Chinese nationalism" and the return of a Middle Kingdom to dominate Asia. "The anti-U.S., pro-China atmosphere has changed recently as we saw the hegemonic side of China," Professor Kim said. "China has tried to conclude the issue as quickly as possible because they were concerned they would be surrounded by anti-China sentiments. Anti-China sentiments could quickly lead Korea to take a pro-U.S. stance and cooperate more with Japan." Turning on a neighbor with a population 27 times their own, South Korean history teachers have demonstrated here, radio commentators have said that half of South Korea's air pollution comes from China, and some South Koreans even cheered for Japan's soccer team during a Japan-China soccer match this month. Some South Korean lawmakers have urged that Koreans ally with Tibetans, Mongolians and Vietnamese to "refute Sinocentrism." Others prepared a bill in the National Assembly to repudiate a 1909 treaty that established the boundary between China and what is today North Korea. "The recent 'China bashing' in South Korea should be harnessed into a new opportunity not only to rethink China's strategic intentions toward the Korean Peninsula but also to dispel the self-centered 'China fantasy' many of us have held up to now," Kang Jun Young, a Chinese studies professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, wrote in the Tuesday issue of Korea Herald newspaper. With anti-Chinese sentiment growing daily, Chinese diplomats moved this week to soothe feelings before they damage a thriving economic relationship that is expected to record $100 billion in bilateral trade next year, 16 times the level of 1992, when diplomatic ties were established. On Thursday, Jia Qinglin, one of the top figures in China's governing Communist Party, is to visit here to mark the booming economic relationship, which includes South Korea's emergence this year as the largest source of new foreign investment for China. On Monday, Wu Dawei, a Chinese deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Seoul, flew here to try to find common ground. On Tuesday, after nine hours of talks, South Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki Moon, announced a loosely worded five-point verbal "understanding." "China is mindful of the fact that the Koguryo question has emerged as a serious pending issue between the two countries," Mr. Ban said of the agreement. The vaguely worded "understanding" did not say that China had promised to stop claiming the kingdom as a former Chinese province. But the two sides agreed to take it as meaning just that, another South Korean Foreign Ministry official told reporters. The agreement called for academic exchanges to help prevent the dispute from turning into a major political obstacle. China's concern over its border was a driver in the talks, Mr. Ban said. "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 should be returned to Korea," the South Korean foreign minister said. "China called for the government to restrain them." But the agreement is not calming South Korean passions in time for the Chinese official's visit here on Thursday. South Korea's governing Uri Party immediately issued an official statement on Tuesday describing the agreement with Beijing as "very much unsatisfactory." From the Grand National Party, the main conservative opposition, one official, Kim Moon Soo, told the foreign minister at the briefing: "China is distorting all of Korean history, including Koguryo. The accords are an insult." The Korea Times, in a comment posted on its Web site on Tuesday night for its Wednesday issue, said the hurried talks were "simply to soothe Seoul in preparation for the visit of China's No. 4 leader, Jia Qinglin, tomorrow. "We sincerely hope that China immediately stop its naive behavior," it said. 어둠보다 더 검은 자여 밤보다도 더 깊은 자여 혼돈의 바다여 흔들리는 존재여 금색의 어둠의 왕이여 나 여기서 그대에게 바란다 나 여기서 그대에게 맹세한다 내 앞을 가로막는 모든 어리석은 자들에게 나와 그대의 힘을 합쳐 마땅한 파멸을 가져다 줄 것을! --- Lina Inverse @ Slayers --- |