Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SHENYANG127
2007-07-09 03:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Shenyang
Cable title:  

PRC-ROK KOGURYO SPARRING CONTINUES, QUIETLY, IN

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR CH KN KS 
pdf how-to read a cable
null
 
 
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 00127

SIPDIS
CXSNY:
 ACTION: POL
 INFO: ECON RF

DISSEMINATION: POL /1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: CG: SBWICKMAN
DRAFTED: POL: AJHANTMAN
CLEARED: CG: SBWICKMAN

VZCZCSHI504
PP RUEHC RUEHUL RUEHBJ RUEHKO RUEHOO RUEAIIA
RUEKJCS RHEHAAA RHHJJAA RHHMUNA
DE RUEHSH #0127/01 1900324
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 090324Z JUL 07
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8117
INFO RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1746
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7856
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1973
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0038
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0029
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI 0996
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).

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