PRC-ROK KOGURYO SPARRING CONTINUES, QUIETLY, IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000127 SIPDIS MOSCOW PASS VLADIVOSTOK DEPARTMENT FOR INR, EAP/K AND EAP/CM E.O. 12958: DECL: July 9, 2032. TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR CH KN KS SUBJECT: PRC-ROK KOGURYO SPARRING CONTINUES, QUIETLY, IN NORTHEAST CHINA REF: 2005 Shenyang 273 (U) CLASSIFIED BY CONSUL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Nearly two years after an August 2005 agreement aimed at shelving their neuralgic political dispute over Koguryo--the kingdom that at various points between 37 BC and 668 AD subsumed parts of modern-day northeast China, North Korea and South Korea--PRC-ROK dueling over ancient history continues, often under the radar, in northeast China. ROK diplomats evince considerable frustration with provincial authorities here, though they note some Chinese accommodation over the past two years. Chinese scholars involved in official PRC Koguryo research--some of whom admit political pressure from the PRC government--note that Chinese research on Koguryo will continue indefinitely, one reason--among others--why an end to history-related sparring looks unlikely even as the fifteenth anniversary of PRC-ROK normalization draws near. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) History remains very much alive in Liaoning and Jilin provinces, home to a number of Koguryo historical sites--most importantly the former Koguryo capital of Ji'an, in Jilin Province (reftel)--that have fueled Sino- Korean history-related tensions for the past several years. Wary of Korean nationalism, Jilin authorities late last year, for instance, abruptly shuttered ROK-operated inns on Mt. Changbai (Baektu-san),the mythical birthplace of the Korean nation, situated on the present-day PRC-DPRK border. ROK diplomats based in northeast China continue to strongly protest Chinese Koguryo-related museum exhibits; textbooks they argue subsume Korean history into Chinese history; and tourist sites PRC provincial officials hope will stimulate local tourism. Months after it was expected to conclude, the PRC's state-funded Northeast Project--an academic initiative tasked by Beijing with studying China's borderland history (including Koguryo)--continues its work, much to the dismay of Korean diplomats here, concerned by what they perceive to be an effort to expropriate Korean history. KOREAN HEARTBURN, MIXED CHINESE RESPONSES -------------- ¶3. (C) Since 2005, the ROK's Shenyang Consulate has borne much of the brunt of what some have dubbed the Sino-Korean "history war." As a result, the consulate has an officer dedicated principally to following the Koguryo issue--along with an economics portfolio. According to the incumbent officer, KIM Ji Hee (protect) and her predecessor JUNG Young Soo (protect),Liaoning and Jilin officials over the past two years have responded entirely differently to ROK concerns, although both are working under the same guidelines from Beijing. Liaoning, home to fewer and more minor Koguryo sites having less tourist potential, has proven relatively helpful, according to Kim and Jung. In response to vigorous ROK protests--usually done via diplomatic note and in diplomats' meetings with nearly all relevant official PRC interlocutors--Liaoning last year took down several monuments, removed or "corrected" a number of provocative museum exhibits and, in at least one case, closed an entire museum. ¶4. (C) By contrast, Jilin (home to the majority of Koguryo sites, including Ji'an, the crown jewel of Koguryo tourism) has proven far more sensitive and prickly, according to Kim and Jung. On the one hand, Jilin has quietly addressed some Korean concerns: late last year it suddenly closed the Ji'an Museum for "renovations" until the end of 2008 in order to tamp down on growing tensions. But Jilin officials have largely proven intransigent, said Kim and Jung, and at times heavy-handed. In retaliation for ROK remonstrations, for example, Kim told us Jilin officials actually closed Ji'an to foreigners for several weeks last year. ¶5. (C) Over the longer term, ROK diplomats working the Koguryo issue sense that protesting Chinese museums and exhibits may be somewhat futile and, ultimately, less important than the textbook and territorial issues. Even so, some feel the textbook issue may already be lost: such was the lament of outgoing ROK CG Gabriel Oh (protect) in April, reflecting on several years of working the issue and the PRC's refusal to reinstate/amend Koguryo-related sections it controversially changed in 2004/05. Looking ahead, Oh considered Mt. Changbai/Baekdu--an issue on which ROK and DPRK positions largely align--to be another major battle-line. Oh told the CG that while the North and South do not explicitly coordinate the issue vis-`-vis China, they have an implicit understanding that Seoul will press China on Mt. Changbai--an undertaking too sensitive for the North--in exchange for Pyongyang's pressing Japan on Tokdo/Takeshima. NORTHEAST PROJECT SOLDIERING ON? -------------- ¶6. (C) Despite selective PRC accommodation on some ROK concerns, ROK diplomats argue that the PRC's ultimate tack seems to be to continue to fight the Koguryo battle, though discreetly and under the radar. One vector continues to be the officially funded Northeast Project, which the ROK anticipated would conclude formally in February but has apparently been extended, according to Kim Ji Hee. Former ROK CG Oh seemed to feel that the extension reflected a Chinese attempt to create the illusion that the door was still open on possible revisions to previous research in order to wear down Korean opposition. Chinese participants, on the other hand, tell us that the project is effectively over, though they say it has yet to formally conclude, since a number of final publications are still forthcoming. ¶7. (C) Like other of their fellow Northeast Project participants, Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences (LASS) researcher LU Chao (protect) and Yanbian University professor GAO Jingzhu (protect) privately admit they did not anticipate that the Northeast Project's Koguryo-focused work would prove as provocative as it did to the ROK. But they strenuously reject ROK media allegations about the project's funding/staffing levels, arguing they have been far lower than claimed in the ROK press. Gao Jingzhu said only a small subsection, mostly scholars in northeast China, of a roster of roughly 100 total participants devoted themselves to Koguryo. In Liaoning, WANG Fushi (protect),a retired LASS scholar and another Northeast Project participant, grumbled to Poloff in March that over the past year LASS had actually required a number of retired scholars--himself included--to return to work on the project (inter alia) due to "changing international conditions." Some privately acknowledge they have felt political pressure from the Chinese government. But Wang wearily noted that "everyone"--PRC and ROK alike--is distorting history for political reasons. ¶8. (C) Candid Chinese participants like Gao also note another reason for such distortions. A number of northeastern scholars involved in the project, he said, now count on Koguryo research for their livelihood. They thus have a certain incentive to exaggerate or overstate historical facts, or the importance thereof, Gao explained somewhat dismissively, chiding certain participants for poor scholarship, often based on flimsy historical evidence. ¶9. (C) Wang, Gao, Lu and other participants told Poloff that Koguryo-related research will continue independently after the formal end of the Northeast Project. Ironically, the ROK's Koguryo point-person in Shenyang, Kim Ji Hee, worries about the end of the project, for, she says, it may make tracking Chinese scholarly research on Koguryo more difficult. IN JI'AN: TOURISM GOALS, CHINESE NATIONALISM -------------- ¶10. (U) Situated in relatively poor borderland in Jilin and clearly pinning its hopes for modernization on Koguryo- related tourism, Ji'an is emblematic of yet another difficulty in conclusively ending Koguryo-related tensions. During a visit in early May, Poloff found the road from Tonghua to Ji'an lined with billboards and banners hailing the sites of the ancient Koguryo capital, the "pearl of the Yalu." In Ji'an, as South Koreans and Chinese toured the city's Koguryo tombs and steles, a newly renovated downtown theater hosted the Ji'an City Koguryo Cultural Performance Art Company, whose performances showcasing Koguryo customs and culture cost a whopping RMB 80 (USD 10) per ticket. ¶11. (U) Local residents and a number of Chinese tour guides at two of Ji'an's major attractions--now registered UNESCO World Heritage sites--noted that increasing numbers of South Koreans visit each year, particularly students on school trips. But many, one guide told Poloff disapprovingly, come with the "mistaken" impression that Koguryo is part of Korean history, something she attributed to the strong "educational base" about Koguryo inculcated in Korean children from a young age. A second guide conceded that "some" Koreans who come are more open-minded; as for the "others," she reminded Poloff, "everyone knows that history can't be changed." ACTION AND REACTION -------------- ¶12. (C) Although central and provincial authorities--not to mention Chinese Koguryo scholars--appear to be acting somewhat more independently of each other than many have claimed, the net result seems to have given the PRC the upper hand on Koguryo since 2005. The ROK has found itself in a reactive mode here, and Seoul's Shenyang-based diplomats lament that they at times feel hemmed in by the Korean media's often alarmist reporting on Koguryo-related developments in China. Periodic concessions by local PRC authorities in response to ROK remonstrations have helped manage tensions over the past two years, but the planned continuation of often-politicized Chinese and Korean Koguryo research, as well as the willingness of local PRC authorities--especially in Ji'an--to use the issue for their own developmental reasons, is unlikely to spell an end to Sino-Korean sparring on the history issue as the fifteenth anniversary of PRC-ROK normalization draws near. WICKMAN