I don’t seem to recall anyone getting this dressed up for the anti-Japanese protests…
Citizens and high school students in ancient warrior armor staging a protest yesterday in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. They came in costume to denounce what they characterized as China’s attempt to distort history of Goguryeo, an ancient kingdom that ruled the region of Manchuria and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula from BC 37 until AD 668. They said Chinese officials have recently been making an effort to include Goguryeo as part of China’s history.
In a related note, Korean TV stations have a whole new slate of historical dramas set for the 2004 season.
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11 Comments
I am totally ignorant on this subject and so have a question. Since there seems to be an overlap of Goguryeo on present day China and Korea, would/do Koreans also claim part of Northeast China as their own? Even if they know, due to China’s size, they would never get that part back?
Wow, it’s like I’m watching Musa all over again…
I’m working with two Korean professors on the theme of “Cultural Problematics of Korean Reunification,” and yesterday, we met with a small number of other individuals to present the results of our work so far.
In my presentation, I mentioned the protests over Goguryeo and the question of China’s longterm intentions toward a unified Korea. I noted this because I was raising the issue of future Korean alliances based upon the assumption of a unified Korea.
I had listed three (rather obvious) scenarios leading to unification. North Korea can go to war (but lose and be reunited with the South). North Korea can reform (and eventually reunite with the South). North Korea can collapse (and be reunited with the South). In all three cases, the result — I thought — would be reunification.
However, in discussing the possibility that North Korea might collapse, one colleague raised a troubling question. Since China claims Goguryeo as its own, and since Goguryeo included much of the northern part of the Korean peninsula, can we be sure that China would not intervene to take the northern part of Korea in the event of a North Korean collapse? The other colleague added that we should not forget that this, in a sense, was what happened in the Korean War when China invaded to assist Kim Il Sung.
I hadn’t thought of that. If we take it as a serious possibility, then we should also consider that war might also lead to intervention by China.
(As an aside, I wonder if the North’s elaboration of juche was partly in response to a perceived threat of absorption by China.)
Anyway, what do the rest of you think about the possibility of China trying to claim the northern part of Korea? I consider the possibility remote because of the high costs that China would pay — in money, people, international relations, foreign investment, reputation, etc., but I’m still thinking about this.
Jeffery Hodges
All I know is that there is a coming conflict with China whether it be with might or greed there will be a face off. China believes in hegemony (though I am uncertain if the younger generations do view it in the same way as the current rulers) and thus their aims are not small. China is currently flexing its muscles and guaging the world stage and thus we are not too far off from an interesting time in all our lives.
Or perhaps I read too much.
I could envision scenarios in which China intervenes to prop up the North, although none of those scenarios involve an initial North Korean invasion of the South ala 1950. If the North Koreans start a war this time, China will sit back and watch the end of the DPRK - of this, I’m almost certain. Beijing knows that it cannot win a conventional war with the US in the short to medium term, and is therefore unlikely to get involved in a losing effort to protect an ally that’s been more of a burden that a boon. Now, other possibilities - an Chinese-backed coup, or a full-scale intervention to save/and or forcibly change a dying regime are certainly possibilities, although I think they’re fairly remote because, as you point out, the economic, diplomatic, and long-run security costs are much greater than whatever might be gained from the intervention itself. Still, a possibility is a possibility, and I’m sure planners in all the concerned capitals are making contingency plans - just in case. As I need not point out, all of these assume that decision making in Beijing remains a rational and predictable process; if central control from Beijing were to weaken and individual PLA commanders started making their own foreign policy, then we’d have a situation akin to 1930s Japan and all bets are off. Likewise, the rise to power in Beijing of an ultra-nationalist cabal that started making decisions with their hearts and not their heads could also make an intervention on the Korean Peninsula more likely. The prospects of either scenario, however, are too frightening to contemplate.
As far as this ties in with the Koguryo problem, I’m not sure if there’s a connection. It seems to me the history issue has more to do with Chinese domestic concerns than it does with external relations and/or possible territorial claims. If Beijing is trying to send a message by this, I would imagine it’s simply to remind Korea, “Who’s your Daddy?” The problem is, this ain’t the Chosun Dynasty no more — Korea is a rich, powerful, confident state with interests that extend far beyond its borders. I doubt very highly that anyone here — from the leadership on down to the man on the street — wants the country to return to vassal status. To the extent that pro-Chinese sentiment does exist, much of that is due to a) latent anti-Japanese sentiment and resentment of American domination and b) the PRC has been, for the most part, relatively non-threatening over the last 20 years or so (and a great market to sell Korean goods). As China grows in strength, Korean perceptions of the country will change — already, we see touchy issues arising like illegal immigration, North Korean refugees, fishery disputes, and China’s rather ham-fisted treatment of Sino-Korean trade issues. And if historical issues like this keep popping up, rather than re-enforce traditional Chinese hegemony in Korea, they’re much more likely to cause resentment and spark official Korean “counter-claims” on certain Chinese/non-Chinese kingdoms - let the history wars begin!
tangent Shenzhen - with the exception of the borderline running through the Lake of Heaven of Mt. Paekdusan and the island of Kando in the Tumen River, there are no real territorial claims on Chinese Manchuria coming from either of the Koreas. That being said, South Korean tourists to northern China are rather notorious for making it a point to elaborate at length about how much of Manchuria was originally Korean — this pisses off Chinese officials to no end, from what I’ve been told. Anyway, history aside, there is very little chance that a unified Korea would make a land claim Manchuria - in the event that it did, the question would not be one whether or not Korea could get that land back, but one of how fast Chinese tanks could get to Seoul. Besides, Manchuria has a number of countries’ object of imperial concern, including Russia and Japan. If China really went in the tank, the Koreans might have a shot at establishing some sort of regional hegemony in North China, but they’d have some serious competition.
Marmot,
Thanks for the info.
I love that outfit. Where can I get myself one? I would love to wear it to work.
How is school going? Have you begun studying property law? You will love the Rule Against Perpetuties and the fertile octagenarian?
Thanks for triggering the bar exam flashbacks.
Hi there, I’m posting this in the hopes someone can help me. I was following a random series of links a few weeks ago, and stumbled upon a blog site by an expat woman living in Japan. She wrote a particularly poignant entry about her homesickness around the Christmas holiday, and how her Japanese friend bought her a “Christmas cake,” as he thought it was a common custom here in the States. No such thing exists, of course, but I loved the story and I want to find it again. This is a totally random thing I’m trying to find, I realize, but I know it was somewhere in these links of Asian blogs…it’s driving me nuts. If you have any idea of who it could be, I’d appreciate your help. daninla28@aol.com.
Thanks a bunch.
Dan Renzi
lets not forget that the current chinese government may implode as they gradually transition to a new political system.
china is also well aware that our economies are joined at the hip and an attack on us is an attack on them. the only way i can see a conventional war happening with china is if a US President says or does something to seriously dishonor china. otherwise, any hostility between us will take place in the economic areana.
You have a great homepage.
Since no Korean commented on your question, let me add a little.
Actually, some part of Chian to the north of North Korea has been in dispute for almost 200 years between Chosun Dynasty and China before Japan occupied Korea. But, Japan passed the right over the region to China after 1904 war between Japan and Russia and 1905 treaty (enforced by Japan) between Korea and Japan.
The reason that it had been a dispute over the region was how to translate ‘Tomun River’ written on a stone monument on Mt. Paekdu built in 1712. China argued that it is DuMan River (now it is called Tomun river by Chinese), and Korea argued that it is upper stream of SongHwa River (Sorry, I don’t know how to pronounce it in Chinese.) that was called ‘Tomun River’ at the time.
Anyway, before the right over the region was passed to Ching Dynasty, Chosun Dynasty had taxed, had office, and had counted people there.
In addition, North Korea also passed some area near Mt. Paekdu to China (or rented it as China did Hong Kong to England. I don’t remember exactly.).
So, some (maybe a lot) Korean still think that some part of China to the north of North Korea should be returned once Korea’s’ are unified.