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The Goguryeo controversies refers to the disputes between China and Korea on the history of Goguryeo, an ancient kingdom located mostly in the present day Northeast China and North Korea.

Background

Goguryeo has been conventionally viewed as a Korean state, more specifically as one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Traditional Chinese histories have also identified Goguryeo with Goryeo, a Korean dynasty that took its name from Goguryeo and ruled Korea for centuries.

Starting from the 1980's, the People's Republic of China began to re-identify Goguryeo , especially the first half of Goguryeo's history before it moved its capital to the Korean peninsula, as a part of the regional history of China rather than of Korea. More recently, this effort has been called the Northeast Project. The rationales for the project includes:

• that Goguryeo was established in Northeast China, now a part of China;
• that Goguryeo actively sought a tributary relationship with successive Chinese empires. This relationship is supported by some international scholars.
• that after the end of Goguryeo, a substantial portion of its people were assimilated into Han Chinese
• the claim that the Goryeo Dynasty and hence, the Korean nation, descends from Samhan and Silla, not Goguryeo; and that Goryeo appropriated the name from Goguryeo when in fact the two were established by different ethnicities.

By contrast, Korean historians dispute the legitimacy of the Northeast Project, generally making these arguments:

• A state established in what is now China does not necessarily mean it is Chinese.
• Goguryeo's second capital was located at Pyongyang, North Korea. Before the capital city was moved, Goguryeo territory comprised what is today North Korea and parts of Manchuria.
• Goguryeo lasted about 900 years while no Chinese Dynasty concurrent with Goguryeo's rule lasted for more than 400.
• That large numbers of Goguryeo people were assimilated into China does not make Goguryeo Chinese.
• Only Southern Koreans from the Jeolla and Kyongsang regions were descendants of Samhan, which is south of the Geum River. There are more Koreans descended from inhabitants outside Samhan and Silla, i.e., north of Geum River. North Koreans are descendants of Goguryeo , and North Korean shares the same languange and culture with the South Koreans.
• Goguryeo ended tibutary relations with China by 106 AD.
• Many cultures in Asia had a tributory relationship with Chinese Dynasties for political reasons including Yamato Japan, and yet the Chinese are not claiming Japan as Chinese territory.

The Northeast Project also involved rewriting history textbooks and restoring important Goguryeo sites in China, which many historians and political analysts question the motives thereof, believing the Northeast Project to be an attempt to establish historical justification for possible takeover of North Korea. There are also many others who believe this is a defensive policy by China, preparing for possible land disputes with a unified Korea. In 2004 this dispute threatened to lead to diplomatic disputes between the China and the Republic of Korea, although all governments involved seem to exhibit no desire to see the issue damage relations.

The PRC's revision to Goguryeo history has received international criticisms came from numerous scholars from other countries such as the United States, Russia, Mongolia, and Australia, including prominent Goguryeo experts such as Mark Byington of Harvard University Korea Institute, and R. Sh. Djarylgashinova of Russian Academy of Science Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.

The Northeast Project is not universally accepted in the PRC. In 2006, a senior scholar of Beijing University, one of the most prestigious universities in the People's Republic of China, affirmed Goguryeo as a part of Korean history and denied Chinese connections. He has expressed disagreements with the CASS institute, the PRC government institution running the Northeast Project, and indirectly criticized the project on behalf of the Peking University Department of History.

See also

• South Korea-China Relations

Notes

1. See Byeon Tae-seop (변태섭) (1999). 韓國史通論 (Hanguksa tongnon) (Outline of Korean history), 4th ed.. ISBN 89-445-9101-6, p. 40. See TANAKA Toshiaki:"The Rise of Goguryeo and Xuan-Tu Shire" 田中俊明:《高句丽的兴起和玄菟郡》, from 32 BC to 666 AD Goguryeo paid 205 tributes to the Chinese Central Plains dynasties. From 32 BC to 391 AD, Goguryeo paid only 17 tributes, but between 423 AD and 666 AD, 188 tributes were paid.
2. http://www.asiaquarterly.com/content/view/174/43/
3. 동북공정과 고대사 왜곡의 대응방안. 서울: 백암. 2006. ISBN 89-7625-119-9. {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
4. "Guardian Protector of Silla", KoreanHistoryProject.org. Retrieved on 30-01-2007.
5. Bae, Young-dae (2004-09-16). "Korea finds some allies in Goguryeo history spat". JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
6. Mark Byington (2004-01-01). "[KS] Koguryo part of China?". Newsgroup: koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
7. "한-러 학계 동북공정 공동대응 한다" (HTML). Navier.com. 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
8. "Chinese Scholar Slams Co-opting Korean History". The Chosun Ilbo. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
9. "Chinese Scholar Slams Co-opting Korean History". The Chosun Ilbo. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2007-03-12.