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May 2003 - May 2005
Pyongyang,
May 5 (KCNA) -- Sixty-nine years have passed since President Kim Il Sung
founded the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland on May 5, Juche
25 (1936). On this occasion the people and servicepersons of
Reflected
in the programme of the ARF is the idea that all classes and social strata
should give priority to the demand and interests common to the nation and
firmly unite as one irrespective of differences in ideology, political view,
religious belief, property and social standing for the purpose of achieving
and defending the independence of the nation.
The
ARF was an anti-Japanese national united organization, the first of its kind
in
It is
entirely thanks to the wise guidance and energetic activities of the President
that the Korean people found out a correct way for the liberation of the
nation from the Japanese imperialist rule in line with the Ten-Point Programme
of the ARF, defeated the Japanese imperialists and liberated the country with
their own efforts, united close around him.
He, on
the basis of the brilliant success and rich experience gained in the efforts
to closely unite broad sections of patriotic forces through the formation of
the ARF, authored the "Ten-Point Programme of the Great Unity of the
Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country".
The tradition of the great national unity established by the President has successfully been carried forward by leader Kim Jong Il. Today all the Koreans in the north, south and overseas are making strenuous efforts to achieve the independent reunification of the country, rallied in the idea of "by our nation itself" set forth by the June 15 North South Joint Declaration.
By Dr. Jo Hui Sung, The Academy of Social Sciences, The Korea Pictorial, Nov.2004.
| The Walled City of Kungnae, the second capital of Koguryo, was situated in today’s Jian, Jilin Province, China. The Samguk Sagi (Chronicles of the Three States) compiled by Kim Pu Sik says, “The king moved the capital to Kungnae and built the Winaam Mountain Fort in October of 3 AD. |
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The Walled City of Kungnae had been the capital of Koguryo for 424 years till Koguryo moved its capital to Pyongyang in 427 AD. Remains of Koguryo well-known to the world are located mainly in this place. They include the tombstone of King Kwanggaetho, King Thae’s tomb, generals’ tombs, dancers’ graves, Korean wrestlers’ graves and so on. |
Jian is situated in the southwestern part of Jilin Province. It has wide fields around it. The Walled City of Kungnae is square and the total length of the walls is 2,686 m. The walls are 7-10 m wide. Originally the height of the walls was 5-6 m, but now it is 2 m. The wall is of peculiar Koguryo type: the foundation stones are big and solid and smaller stones are neatly piled upward. It is presumed that the walled city had six gates. The walls had bastions peculiar to Koguryo; eight on the northern wall, and two each on the western, southern and eastern walls, 14 in all. A bastion was 8-10 m long and 6-8 m wide.
Discovered in the Walled City of Kungnae are many relics such as roofing tiles engraved with the characters “Fourth Year of Thaenyong”, remains of buildings which seem to have been the royal palace, and large numbers of cornerstones. In the neighbourhood are important Koguryo relics called the relics (sites) of buildings of Tongtaeja. Many of Koguryo relics disappeared from Jian when the quiet place with 20-odd families in it some 100 years ago became the seat of Jian City with a population of over 200,000 people. It is supposed that the present Sansongja Mountain Fort was the Winaam Mountain Fort.
People of Koguryo built the Winaam Mountain Fort when they moved the capital from Juben (Huanren) to the Walled City of Kungnae. It is 2.5 km north of the Kungnae Walls. People of Koguryo, Paekje, Silla and Kaya used to build forts on mountains to defend their walled capitals, and in time of emergency the entire army and people would go to the mountain forts and fight against the enemies. The Winaam fort was built across the peak and ridge of a mountain, and so the height of the walls was not uniform because of the undulation of the ridge. The walls had five gates including the two each on the east and the north. The walls had battlements. There were reservoirs and ponds called Ummaji, Ummaman and Ryonhwaji within the mountain fort.
The Samguk Sagi tells the following story about the wellspring in the Winaam Mountain Fort. Once aggressors from a neighbouring country encircled the Winaam Mountain Fort in many rings. Now the command of the Koguryo army sent the enemy some carps collected from the pond in the fort wrapped in waterweed along with a little liquor. When the enemy generals received it, they said, “It isn’t easy to take the mountain fort because there’s water inside the fort” and withdrew their troops before long. As is clear from this, the people of Koguryo, when building a mountain fort, secured rich water resources which could last them long enough to protect themselves and even counterattack the enemy. The ancient city of Koguryo Jian (Walled City of Kungnae) and the Winaam Mountain Fort must be preserved for long as valuable cultural assets of Korea.
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|
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1.
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è ×ó÷õå. |
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è «ñàìîñòèéíîñòè» (êîð. ÷ó÷õå) â
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The Korea Pictorial, Nov.2004.
 |
The north-south joint photo exhibition took place on Mt Kumgang in September in celebration of the registration of Koguryo relics on the World Cultural Heritage List. On display at the exhibition were 70 photos showing murals in 15 Koguryo tombs which were registered as the World Cultural Heritage in July 2004. |
The venue of the exhibition on Mt Kumgang, the world-famous mountain, was seething with excitement as the historians of the north and the south held a celebration event amid the pleasure that the relics of Koguryo, a 1,000-year-long powerful state occupying a vast area of the east demonstrating the dignity and might of the Korean nation to the whole world, were registered as common cultural assets of humanity.
Present at the exhibition were historians, personages of all strata and officials concerned from the north and the south. Speeches were made at the opening ceremony of the exhibition and a joint statement was adopted. It reads:
Joint Statement
Today the historians of the north and the south have held a grand north-south joint photo exhibition at Mt Kumgang in celebration of the registration of Koguryo relics on the World Cultural Heritage List.
All the participants from the north and the south jointly confirmed through the celebration that the Koguryo dynasty—a 1,000-year-long power in the east which we can boast of to the world—was a full-fledged sovereign state of the Korean nation and a civilized state which made a great contribution to the cultural development of humankind.
Historians from the north and the south are unanimous in their emphasis that the history of a nation does neither change even if someone distorts it nor ceases to exist even if someone denies it. And they confirmed once again that the history of Koguryo is a real history of our nation and will remain as such for ever in the future, too.
Sharing the understanding that protecting the history of Koguryo is a matter of great importance related to the dignity of the country and the nation, the historians of the north and the south decided to further intensify mutual cooperation in this matter. They resolved to make an active contribution to the establishment of the national identity for the moment by further deepening the study of the history of Koguryo on the principles of national independence and fidelity to the historical truth and giving wide publicity to the proud history of Koguryo all over the world. The north-side and south-side committees of the consultative committee of the historians of the north and the south will discharge their mission and responsibilities in protecting the nation’s history with the concerted efforts by our nation itself and in their endeavour for the national reconciliation, harmony and reunification in the spirit of the historic June 15 Joint Declaration
Pyongyang, December 25 (KCNA) -- Hoeryong, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, has long had three prides from olden times. They -- beautiful women, white apricot and kaolin -- have been well known not only in the country but in other countries including China, Russia, Japan and even the United States from long time ago.
Hoeryong women are beautiful, honest-minded and diligent. They are strong in sense of obligation and viability and noble in traits. Typical of them is Kim Jong Suk, who was born there in 1917. She had been loved by villagers as "little daughter of the Hoeryong House" and "girl of the Hoeryong House" for her tender-heartedness and uprightness. Her lofty spiritual world can be seen in many anecdotes including stories that she guarded President Kim Il Sung at the risk of life in battles during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. The beauty of Hoeryong women has become all the more famous for her distinguished features, virtues and intelligence.
White apricot began to be cultivated in the Obong area of Hoeryong in the early period of Ri Dynasty. It bursts into bloom in May and bears fruit in summer. Kim Jong Suk, who lived in Hoeryong for only five years, missed white apricot so much and, with the hope that the tree would be in full bloom throughout the country, devotedly fought to bring up the day. Her desire was realized by President Kim Il Sung. White apricot can be seen in any part of the country now. Hoeryong earthenware of different blue-grey colors and unique shapes with kaolin as the main material are also renowned in view of both the features of folk handicraft and virtual utility. Kim Jong Suk visited a pottery in Kyongsong in around September Juche 36 (1947) and encouraged its workers to make quality and useful earthenware for people. Under the meticulous guidance of Kim Jong Il Hoeryong earthenware have enjoyed greater popularity in the country.
The People's Korea, 30 October 2004
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The certificate of the registration of mural tombs belonging to the Koguryo Dynasty as the world heritages was conveyed to the DPRK. A ceremony of conveying the certificate took place at the Grand People’s Study House on October 20. A total of 63 Koguryo tombs with murals including King Tongmyong’s Mausoleum and the mural tombs in Tokhung-ri and Yaksu-ri were registered as the world’s heritages at the 28th meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO in July. |
The certificate is conveyed to Ri Ui Ha by Mounir Bouchenaki. |
Present at the ceremony from the DPRK were workers of the Bureau for Direction of Cultural Preservation of the DPRK and the Bureau of International Organizations of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK and from UNESCO Mounir Bouchenaki, Assistant Director-General of the UNESCO, Aoshima Yasuyuki, head of the Beijing office of the UNESCO, and two other people concerned.
Firstly, the certificate was conveyed to Ri Ui Ha, Deputy Director of the Bureau for Direction of Cultural Preservation of the DPRK by Mounir Bouchenaki. Speeches were made at the ceremony. Ri Ui Ha said in his speech that the DPRK would make positive efforts to preserve and manage these mural tombs with greater care and strengthen exchange and cooperation with international organizations including the UNESCO.
Mounir Bouchenaki warmly congratulated the Korean people upon the registration of the mural tombs as the world’s heritages at the beginning of his speech.
He said that the mural tombs were the asset not only of Korea but of the world. To preserve the cultural relics with good care is an important work for the generations to come, he said, adding the UNESCO would actively cooperate with the DPRK in preserving and managing the Koguryo mural tombs.Meanwhile. Mounir Bouchenaki and Aoshima paid a courtesy call on the Culture Ministry.
They visited the DPRK from October 19 to 23 not only to convey the certificate but also to look around ruins in various places in the DPRK in order to investigate the preservation of the ruins. They also visited the Koguryo Heritages including the tomb of Kimg Tongmyong and Kangso tombs No.3, the central museum of DPRK history, the national museum and so on.
On October 21, a “National debate on a ban on transfer of illegal titles to cultural assets” was held at the Grand People’s Study House.
Participating there was a party of UNESCO and Korean workers concerned.|
"National debate on a ban on transfer of illegal titles to cultural assets" was held in Pyongyang for the first time. |
It was the first time that a debate
concerning a ban on the transfer of illegal titles to cultural assets was
held. According to people concerned, the purpose of the debate was to studying
ways and measures according to international law to eliminate the illegal
transfer of cultural assets into or out of a country and to get back the
cultural assets which were plundered in the past.
The UNESCO agreement which was concluded in 1970, decides that a country which was robbed of its cultural assets can claim their restoration, that it will support a country which had its cultural assets then plundered and that the UNESCO will act as an intermediary in the negotiations. The DPRK joined the UNESCO agreement in 1983. Now, 104 countries joined the agreement. Japan joined it in 2002. |
The UNIDROIT agreement was concluded in 1995. The UNIDROIT agreement is one of the amended and revised agreements of the UNESCO. Now, 23 countries join the agreement.
The UNIDROIT agreement specifies that the owner of illegally transferred cultural assets should return such cultural assets to their place of origin.This agreement applies to the problem of cultural assets plundered by Japanese imperialists in the colonial period, but actually, there were various problems and this should be solved by the countries which are directly concerned.
At the debate, a secretary in charge of culture of the Beijing office of the UNESCO explained the contents of these agreements and explained the situation of the implementation of these agreements in Northeast Asia.
A Korean participant said in the closing ceremony, “We should stress that the activities to get back the cultural assets which were illegally carried out from our country coincided with the spirit of the UNESCO agreement of 1970. We would like to exchange opinions on various other problems.” “The debate must give an important opportunity to strengthen cooperation and solidarity with other international organizations and countries,” he added.
First
Mural Tomb of Palhae Unearthed in Korea
30 October, 2004, The People's Korea.
PYONGYANG, October 22 (KCNA)-- The first mural tomb of Palhae was recently unearthed by an archaeological research group of the Academy of Social Sciences in Kumsong-ri, Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province.
The mural tomb is situated in the area where there are groups of tombs including Kumsong-ri Tomb No. 1, which had been defined as one belonging to Palhae by the Archaeological Society and registered as a relic to be preserved under state care.
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Photo shows a mural tomb of Palhae recently unearthed in North Hamgyong Province for the first time in the history of the DPRK. |
The newly unearthed tomb is an earth tomb with a stone-walled room underground. It consists of a tunnel path and the room of corpses. The tunnel path is 204cm long, 132cm wide and 153cm high and the room is 324cm long, 174cm wide and 170cm high.
In the center of the room is a coffin platform on which were found remains of two bodies which appeared to be a couple.Inside the tomb there were various murals including figures and genre paintings.
Painted on the lower part of the northern wall of the corpse room were human legs wearing white puttees and shoes and on pieces of plastered wall that fell off were an unworldly man on a lotus and beautiful lotus-pattern ornaments.
Collected in the room were tens of pieces of relics including a guild bronze plate of lotus-pattern ornaments, a bronze ring of a box, a bronze corner ornament, a bronze nail of a tack type, an inkstone, iron nails for the coffin and earthenwares.
The tomb is attracting the interest of scholars as its structure is the type of earth tomb with an oblong stone-walled room of a plain ceiling like Kumsong-ri Tomb No. 1 and the relics discovered there are typical ones representing the Palhae period.
The Archaeological Society closely examined the results of the excavation of the mural tomb in Kumsong-ri and confirmed that it is the first mural tomb of Palhae to be known in the Korean territory.
The discovery of the tomb is a precious achievement that proves the excellent cultural standard and independence of Palhae, a full-fledged sovereign state in the mediaeval history of Korea, and enhances the national dignity and pride of Koreans.
Pyongyang, October 28 (KCNA) -- An academic symposium marking the tenth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's visit to King Tangun's Mausoleum on October 29, Juche 83 (1994) was held here Wednesday. Speeches were made there on the subjects "The great leader and the respected general are the fathers of the nation who found and have glorified the history of our nation", "The culture of the River Taedong newly formulated under the wise guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Il" and "King Tangun's Mausoleum rebuilt into a grand monumental edifice under the wise guidance of the great general".
The speakers said King Tangun's Mausoleum was discovered and ascertained under the meticulous guidance of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, noting they found Tangun, who had been conveyed only in a myth in the history of storm and stress, as the founding father of the nation, anxious to glorify the time-honored history of the Korean nation. With this, the speakers added, it has been scientifically confirmed that Pyongyang is the cradle of the Korean nation and the historical holy land which heralded all origins of the Korean nation.
Tangun's Korea was one of the ancient states founded early in the 30th century B.C. in the basin of the River Taedong around Pyongyang and a civilized state which took shape on the basis of developed bronze culture, they said, and proved on a scientific ground that the culture of the River Taedong holds a cultural historic position equal to or ahead of the world's four cultures in view of the period of its formation and the level of its development.
They called for invigorating the excavation and studies of historic relics, true to the instructions given by Kim Jong Il while going round the mausoleum, and thus adding shine to the time-honored national history spanning 50 centuries. Present at the symposium were Thae Hyong Chol, president of the Academy of Social Sciences, Kim Sok Hwan, director of the Bureau for Direction of Cultural Preservation, and officials concerned.
by Rim Mi Hwa, The Korea Pictorial, Nov.2004.
The US armed forces have recorded “a history of massacre” ever since the moment they set foot on the soil of south Korea in the guise of “liberator” on September 8, 1945. Until the outbreak of the Korean war (June 25, 1950), they savagely killed lots of innocent people in all parts of south Korea for the sole reason that they had set up people’s committees, autonomous organizations of the people in most parts of the Korean peninsula at that time. People’s committees thus set up in 80-odd percent of the whole territory of Korea were active then.
Then why did the US military government scheme to disband the people’s committees? It wanted to enforce colonial rule over south Korea. It outlawed and dissolved the people’s committees. Where the people’s committees did not break up, the Americans committed atrocities of massacre with bayonets and tanks. Before the Korean war, they massacred civilians in Namwon, workers at the Hwasun Coal Mine, large numbers of people during the October resistance struggle and the participants in the Ryosun resistance struggles. These horrible butcheries were all the outcome of the US military government’s “operations for slaughtering civilians”.
The October resistance struggle of 1946 known as the Taegu disturbance was the largest people’s uprising after liberation started by about 600,000 people in the area of North Kyongsang Province in quest of new politics and a new life. The US military men fired rifles and machine guns at random at the participants in the uprising and crushed wounded people with tanks. At least 300-1,000 civilians were killed, thousands of people got lost and tens of thousands got injured.
The savagery of the GIs became more naked in the massacre of participants in the Jeju Island popular uprising. The US military government committed indiscriminate killing of people on Jeju Island with the object of disbanding the people’s committees which had struck roots in the masses of people. At that time the US military governor prattled, “The US needs the territory of Jeju Island, not its people”, and the GIs slaughtered more than 70,000 islanders. Most of them were civilians.
Bruce Cumings of the United States, in his lecture in Tokyo, Japan, on March 3, 1998, on the massacre of people on Jeju Island, said that the massacre was conducted according to the US plan and on the US initiative. The massacre of people by US troops ran to an extreme during the Korean war. The slaughter in Taejon prison, massacre following their landing in Inchon, killings in connection with the Protection and Guidance Federation, genocide in Rogun-ri, Yongdong County, North Chungchong Province, killing of people on Koje Island, mass slaughter in Kochang, killing of civilians in Ham-phyong, massacre of civilians in Kumsong-myon, Uisong County, North Kyongsang Province, killing of people in the Kyaegae cave, Yongchun-myon, Tanyang County, North Chungchong Province, massacre of civilians in Pusan of South Kyongsang Province and countless others were all crimes the Yankees committed during the war.
The fact that there was a passage in the booklet the US Defence Department supplied to the GIs which read: “The US soldiers must be merciless and skilled killers. Koreans are no Americans. So there should be no sympathy whatsoever with the Koreans. You should be merciless and merciless to them,” shows that the massacres of civilians were planned actions.
The Rogun-ri incident known to the world by an AP report in late September 1999 was a typical act of butchery committed by the Second Battalion, the 7th Armoured Regiment, the lst Armoured Division of the US Army. On July 25, 1950, US army men rushed in Rogun-ri, Yongdong County, North Chungchong Province, drove 400-500 people of all ages and both sexes into a double tunnel over which passes the Seoul-Pusan railway line, saying that the US army men “would help them take refuge in the areas of Taegu and Pusan”, and massacred them with machine guns from the hills in front and in the rear.
The USA simply expressed regret for this incident and do not admit their legal responsibility for it, to say nothing of compensation to the victims. This incident is only one example showing the falsehood of its hypocritical “policy of human rights”. The Korean people will surely take revenge upon the US imperialists, their inveterate enemy.
Pyongyang, October 25 (KCNA) -- Many tombs belonging to the period of Koguryo have been unearthed in various places of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea including Mt. Ryongak and Rakrang district, Pyongyang. They vividly show the highly developed architecture of Koguryo and various shapes of tomb inherent in Korea. The Koguryo people used to hold large funeral services. Theirs are piled stone tombs and mounded tombs with stone chambers. They are developed shapes of tomb belonging to Kojoson (ancient Korea) such as dolmen, stone coffin and stone heap.
The oldest stone tombs were piled with rugged stones on the ground. But later, tombs were built with trimmed stones in the form of steps. Typical of piled stone tombs are those of a general and a king of Koguryo in Jian, Jilin Province, China. The general's tomb is a seven-storied platform piled up with trimmed granite stones. The coffin chamber is between the fourth and fifth stories. The tomb is 34 meters long and 14.3 meters high, which resembles a big structure.
The mounded tomb with a stone chamber is a developed form of piled stone tomb. Its coffin chamber was made with stones and then mounded with earth. The tomb has a corridor and one or two chambers or more. Nearly a hundred tombs of this shape have been discovered. Some of them have mural paintings. Typical of them are King Tongmyong's mausoleum, Anak tomb No. 3, the three tombs in Kangso and the tomb in Tokhung-ri in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. These tombs are precious cultural assets indicative of the originality of the Koguryo culture.
Pyongyang, October 21 (KCNA) -- The certificate of the registration of mural tombs belonging to the Koguryo Dynasty as world's heritages was conveyed to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. A total of 63 Koguryo tombs with murals including King Tongmyong's Mausoleum and the mural tombs in Tokhung-ri and Yaksu-ri were registered as world's heritages at the 28th meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO in July.
These mural tombs, precious assets of the Korean nation, were built in the period of the Koguryo Dynasty, the first feudal state of Korea, and had a great influence on the development of mediaeval oriental culture for their distinguished architecture and painting art of high level. With their registration as world's heritages, their historical and cultural value has become to be publicly recognized in the international community.
A ceremony of conveying the certificate took place at the Grand People's Study House Wednesday. Assistant Director-General of the UNESCO Mounir Bouchenaki conveyed the certificate to Deputy Director of the Bureau for Direction of Cultural Preservation of the DPRK Ri Ui Ha. Speeches were made at the ceremony. Ri Ui Ha said the registration of the mural tombs of the Koguryo Dynasty as world's heritages was an international assessment of the precious historical and cultural relics showing distinguished resourcefulness and talent of the Korean nation.
The DPRK will make positive efforts to preserve and manage these mural tombs with greater care and strengthen exchange and cooperation with international organizations including the UNESCO, he stated. Mounir Bouchenaki warmly congratulated the Korean people upon the registration of the mural tombs as world's heritages. Underscoring the significance of the preservation and management of the mural tombs, he said these were wealth not only of Korea but of the world. To preserve the cultural relics with good care is an important work for the generations to come, he said, adding the UNESCO would actively cooperate with the DPRK in preserving and managing the Koguryo mural tombs.
Pyongyang, October 18 (KCNA) -- Many relics belonging to the period of Koguryo, which existed as a powerful state for nearly one thousand years in Korean history, have been preserved in and around Mt. Taesong in northeastern Pyongyang. Taesong means a large castle. On the mountain a castle was built in the period of Koguryo to repel invaders. The 9,284-meter-long castle was built for the purpose of defending the Anhak Palace, the royal palace of Koguryo. It, one of the largest castles in Koguryo, shows well the architectural characteristics of mountain castle at that time.
In Mt. Taesong 20 ruined castle gates were found and only Nam Gate still remains. The gate, restored to the original state in September Juche 67 (1978), adds beauty and national features to Mt. Taesong. The Anhak Palace, which existed in the period between 427 and 586, covers 386,000 square meters. According to a survey result, there were 52 buildings with a total floor space of 31,458 square meters in the royal palace. And 2,590 ruined pillars, tiles, large and small earthenware jars, glass ornaments, arrowheads and other remains were discovered at the palace site. The architecture introduced in the building of the Anhak Palace had been applied to successive royal palaces in Korea.
A large number of historic relics including ruined food stores, armories, barracks and groups of tombs provide a glimpse of Koguryo people's wisdom and talent. Kwangbop Temple, built in the period of King Gwanggaetho of Koguryo, was restored in 1990 and has been preserved in its origin as national treasure. In Mt. Taesong there are Ingo, Kuryong, Sasum, Jangsu and many other ponds. They have legends about the landscape of Mt. Taesong, the Koguryo people's patriotism and their desire for leading a happy life free from the feudal status system.
16 October 2004, The People's Korea
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The Foundation Day of Korea was commemorated in the DPRK. A function was held in front of King Tangun’s Mausoleum on October 3. Ten years have passed since King Tangun’s Mausoleum was constructed in 1994.A South Korean delegation had participated in the function two times in the past, last year and the year before last. But, this meaningful year, no South Koreans were able to come to the North to participate in the function. Though the North and the South were not able to hold the function together, the function to commemorate the Foundation Day of Korea was also held in Seoul on the same day. |
A function to commemorate the foundation day of Korea held held in front of King Tangun's Mausoleum on October 3. |
The CRTN of the North side and the “Preparatory Committee of the South side for the Joint Celebration of the Foundation Day of Korea” had had a contact at the end of September and agreed to hold the function in Pyongyang and Seoul on the same day.
A memorial service for King Tangun took place first. Then, Kang Chol Won, vice-chairman of the CRTN, delivered a commemorative speech. A joint appeal to Korean compatriots in the North, the South and overseas, which had been agreed upon between the CRTN of the North side and the Preparatory Committee for the Joint Celebration of the Foundation Day of Korea of the South side, was read at the end of the function.
The joint appeal called upon the Korean people-- (1) To correct our national history with pride in the spirit of “Our nation is the best,” (2) to keep peace in Korea through national cooperation, and (3) to turn out in the struggle to achieve reunification under the uplifted banner of the June 15 Joint Declaration.
The joint appeal especially stressed a need to abolish the “National Security Law” and to open the way to reunification and also stressed the importance of making next year the first year of withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea and the historic first year of reunification.
Pyongyang, October 4 (KCNA) -- There are many legends on Koguryo (277 B.C.-668 A.D.), a powerful nation in the East. The legend on the formation of Koguryo is one of them. It serves as important data in the study of history as it reflects the course of the building of Koguryo by Jumong and the then social life. The oldest one of the legends is the story about the national building inscribed in the stone monument to the King Kwanggaetho's Mausoleum erected in Jian, Jilin Province, China in the year 414.
According to the legend, first King Chumo, son of Heaven and water gods, comes down to the south from the North Puyo together with his followers, builds a castle on the mountain west of Holbon, Piryugok and sets up the capital there. Koguryo part in the book "Samguksagi" (the history of the three kingdoms--Koguryo, Paekje and Silla) conveys details of the legend.
On the order of Heaven God, Haeburu, king of Puyo, moves to the place called Kasopwon where he builds East Puyo. Haeburu's old capital was occupied by Haemosu. Haemosu marries to Ryu Hwa, a daughter of Ha Paek, without her parents' approval. So she goes into exile in the area south of Mt. Thaebaek. King Kumwa, a son of Haeburu, meets with Ryu Hwa and listens to her story. And he lets her live in a detached palace. She gives birth to a son called Jumong. Princes of Puyo are jealous of him and weave a plot to kill him because he has been brave and crack archer from childhood. Jumong, together with his friends, flees from the area and arrives at the Holbon Stream. Learning that the area has steep mountains and fertile land, he builds a country beside the River Piryu and names it Koguryo. He takes the first letter of the country's name "Ko" as his surname.
Besides, stories about the building of Koguryo by Jumong are recorded in various other historical documents. Among them are the book "Part of King Tongmyong" by Ri Kyu Bo in 1193, "Story of Successive Kings" by Ri Sung Hyu in 1287, "Samgukyusa" by Il Yon at the end of the 13th century and Paekje Part of "Samguksagi".
Such historical books as "Samgukyusa" and "Geographical Book of True Records of Sejong" write King Tongmyong as Emperor Tongmyong and that Koguryo, an empire, instituted and used its own calander and had some states of feudal lords, rejecting foreign domination and interference and exercising sovereignty. All this vividly shows the features of Koguryo as a sovereign state.
Pyongyang, October 1 (KCNA) -- Koryo medicine, traditional medicine of Korea, has been developed by creative power and talent of the Korean people from olden times. Koguryo, the first feudal state existed in Korea from B.C. 227 to 668 A.D., was ahead of other countries in medical arts, too, especially in acupuncture.
Japanese Chronicle, a 30-volum Japanese historical book, conveys a story about a Japanese curing any kind of diseases with acupuncture he learnt in Koguryo. Koguryo people used various herbs and pharmaceuticals in medical treatment and exported them to other countries.
A Chinese historical document introduces insam (ginseng) of Koguryo good for medical treatment and a song about it. The Koguryo people, who were the first in the world to cultivate insam and use it for medical treatment and promotion of health, widely used botanical, animal and mineral medicines for curing diseases. They applied kelp to the treatment of thyroiditis for the first time in the world. Meanwhile, the Koguryo people developed methods of manufacturing various kinds of medicines and their usage.
Chongumyobang, an old medical book, says that the Koguryo people made tablets with some 20 kinds of pharmaceuticals including rhubarb, wild plant root, ginger, wild ginger plant, peony and honey to cure chronic gastritis and gastric ulcer. This shows the developed pharmaceutical methods and prescriptions in the period of Koguryo. The Koguryo people also had good experience in curing patients suffering from various kinds of diseases. The medical achievements of the Koguryo people have served as a great foundation of the development of national medicine. On the basis of their achievements, Uibangryuchi, the first medical encyclopedia in the world, was made in Korea in 1445.
Pyongyang, September 30 (KCNA) -- The Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang is visited every day by some 1,000 people. Several thousand pieces of relics showing the long Korean history from the primitive age to modern times are displayed in 19 rooms of the museum. Among them are more than 400 pieces of relics belonging to the period of Koguryo (B.C.277-668 A.D.). They show well the might of Koguryo, which existed as a powerful state in the East in the mediaeval history of Korea.
It has been proved by the historical documents -- "Samguksagi" of Korea and "Bei Shi", "Wei Guishu" and "Tang Huiyao" of China-- in a scientific way that Koguryo had existed from the 3rd century before Christ.
The 1,800-letter inscription on the stone monument to King Kwanggaetho's Mausoleum (imitation 6.34 meters high), a cultural heritage of Korea, conveys details of the Koguryo foundation and a story about the territory expanded in the period of King
Kwanggaetho.
Also on display in the museum are a map showing main forts, and cavaliers clad in armour, models of horses, swords, maekgung (a kind of arrow designed and made to give horror to the enemy with its sound) and other weapons, and tomb murals portraying the Koguryo people's habit of attaching importance to military affairs. All this eloquently shows how the Koguryo people defended its independence and sovereignty for nearly 1,000 years.
The exhibits representing the Koguryo people's struggle against invaders fully reflect the indomitable stamina of the Korean nation with a strong sense of patriotism and justice. Meanwhile, many relics show the developed culture of Koguryo, a civilized state. An astronomical map, the oldest one of its kind in the world, is indicative of the astronomical development of Koguryo. Marked on the map are 1,464 asterisms centering on the North Pole, and the equator, ecliptic, longitude, Galaxy, etc. Buddhist scriptures written with gold dust, various kinds of metal ornaments, vessels, attires, musical instruments and tomb murals preserved in their original color concentrically show the then culture.
Pyongyang, September 5 (KCNA) -- The Science and Encyclopaedia Press has brought out book "History of Anti-Japanese Armed Struggle" (enlarged edition) vol. 6. The book carries the immortal fighting feats performed by President Kim Il Sung in leading the whole Korean revolution centering on the anti-Japanese armed struggle to a great upswing by wisely leading the Korean People's Revolutionary Army and party and revolutionary organizations in the historic period from late autumn of Juche 25 (1936) to late June of Juche 26 (1937).
It says that the President put forward the policy of frustrating the "winter great punitive" offensive of the Japanese imperialists and consolidating the Mt. Paektu base at the military and political cadres meeting of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army held in November Juche 25 (1936) and then wisely led the struggle to this end. He led to a brilliant victory the operation of advance into the homeland with the historic Pochonbo battle as the main and rapidly expanded party organizations and the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland to immensely strengthen the revolutionary forces on a nationwide scale, the book adds.
Pyongyang, September 4 (KCNA) -- The Volume 55 of the "Complete Collection of Kim Il Sung's Works" was brought out by the Workers' Party of Korea Publishing House. It is a library of immortal Juche idea as it systematically and comprehensively deals with famous works of President Kim Il Sung in a chronological order. The book contains his 26 works including important speeches, conclusions, talks, etc. made in the period from July to October of Juche 63 (1974). Expounded in it are outstanding ideas, theories and policies the President set out in that period to accelerate socialist construction, reunify the country and accomplish the cause of global independence.
By JAMES BROOKE, New York Times, August 25, 2004
SEOUL, 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.
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 naïve behavior," it said.
by Leonid A.Petrov
This paper is setting a goal to
examine the state of history research in North Korea after the 1960s, when the
new nationalistic tradition of juche (self-reliance) took an upper
hand in the struggle against the Soviet-style Marxist-Leninist academic
tradition. The adopted practice of making up the facts and doctoring the truth
has isolated North Korean historical scholarship from its Soviet benefactors and
made many of its research achievements invalid. Both the inefficiency of its
bureaucratic system and the lack of funds prevented DPRK scholars from active
participation in the international forums where they could voice their opinion.
The dependence of DPRK on economic assistance from China after the collapse of
the Communist Bloc further complicated the task for North Korean historians.
The
lessons of the recent kafuffle around the alleged Chinese appropriation of
Korean cultural legacy demonstrated the North Korea’s inability to defend its
official point of view even on the history of Goguryeo, the model state of the
past. Once situated in the mountains regions of southern Manchuria and northern
Korea, this ancient belligerent kingdom is customarily presented by Pyeongyang
as the progenitor of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The great deal
of attention that North Korean historians pay to Goguryeo creates the false
impression that they are the primary authority on its history.
Pyongyang, August 6, 2004 (KCNA) -- The Second World Congress of Korean Studies closed in Pyongyang on Thursday. Prior to the closing ceremony panel discussions continued. Introduced at the panel discussions were the academic successes and experience gained in researches into issues arising in studying time-honored history and culture of the Korean nation spanning five thousand years, adhering to and inheriting and developing the excellent ideological wealth and cultural tradition created by the Korean people.
The participants discussed a lot of academic issues arising in accurately grasping and studying the modern history of the Korean nation including the foundation of the Juche idea, the originality and justice of the great Songun politics, the benevolent politics based on the idea, the line of economic construction and the line of scientific, educational and cultural construction in the Songun era, tasks and ways to achieve national reconciliation, unity and reunification of the nation as required by the era after the publication of the June 15 joint declaration.
A closing meeting was held at the congress. Thae Hyong Chol, president of the Academy of Social Sciences, in his speech at the closing meeting called upon all the participants to further intensify the study of Koreanology based on the successes and experience achieved at the congress and thus creditably fulfill their mission and duty as intellectuals in the era of reunification who guarantee national reconciliation, cooperation and reunification with knowledge and lead them with brush.
Then followed speeches by Sergey Kurbanov, director of the Center for Korean Language and Culture of Faculty of Oriental Studies of St-Petersburg State University of Russia, Paek Jong Min, chairwoman of the Korean American Women Artistes and Writers Association, and Kim Hwa Hyo, chairman of the Association of Korean Social Scientists in Japan.
A declaration adopted at the congress in the name of its participants noted that they would strive hard to make Korean studies contribute to the reconciliation and cooperation between the north and the south of Korea and to the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration. The declaration said that they would work hard to deepen the study of the Korean history and culture so that Korean studies may help heighten the dignity and pride of all Koreans. Kim Jong Yong, vice-president of the Academy of Social Sciences, made a closing address at the congress. (KCNA)
| Pyongyang, August 5, 2004 (KCNA) -- The Second World
Congress of Korean Studies opened in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Present
there were vice-premier of the Cabinet Ro Tu Chol, President of
the Academy of Social Sciences Thae Hyong Chol, senior officials
in the fields of science and education and officials concerned.
Attending it are the DPRK delegation, delegations and delegates from
China, Russia, Japan, Spain, the United States, Australia and other
countries, delegations and delegates of overseas Koreans.
Thae Hyong Chol declared the congress open, expressing belief that the congress, which opened in Pyongyang amidst the great interest and expectation of world experts on Koreanology, would be a significant congress which would lay a new milestone in further developing Koreanology [sic. Korean Studies]. Ro Tu Chol in his congratulatory speech hoped that the congress would mark a new turn in studying Korea at a higher level, strengthening solidarity among scholars studying Koreanology and thus positively contributing to the reunification and development of the Korean nation and achievement of peace and security of Asia and the rest of the world. Congratulatory speeches were also made by Alexandr Vorontsov, chief of Korean Section of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Chen Longshan, president of the Jilin Provincial Center for Northeast Asia Studies, China. Panel discussions took place at the congress. They involved philosophy, socio-politics, economic law, history, literature, linguistics, folk art, education and culture and science and technology. Delegates of the DPRK, different countries and overseas Koreans presented many valuable papers and exchanged views on the issues of mutual concern. |
|
Speakers at the panel discussions said though they differed from each other in the fields and subjects of their studies, they should have the same great theme Koreanology should pursue at the present time when a nation-wide campaign should be conducted to achieve the country's reunification and peace through the great national unity under the banner of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. The participants shared the view on boosting exchange and cooperation and strengthening the ties among world experts on Koreanology to positively contribute to firmly preserving and glorifying the time-honored history and brilliant culture of Korea. The congress continues. (KCNA)
Pyongyang, August 3, 2004 (KCNA) -- Delegates of Russia, the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Spain and other countries arrived here today to attend the 2nd World Conference on Korean Studies. Also arriving were delegates of Koreans from the United States, China, Japan, Spain and other countries. Earlier, a delegation of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences of China and a delegation of Korean social scientists in Japan arrived here.
...Ancient Korea or Tangun Korea was founded by Tangun early in the 30th century B.C. and its descendents built Koguryo, the first feudal state in Korea, in 277 B.C. At least 100 mural paintings believed to belong to the period of Koguryo have been found so far. Each mural painting created in the period of Koguryo vividly and truthfully reflects the life of the Koguryo people and details of the custom peculiar to the Korean nation. Women's coats with multi-colored sleeves, rainbow-colored pleated skirts and their hairstyles seen on a Twin Pillar Mural Painting and the Kamsin Mural Painting and those found in Susan-ri and Tokhung-ri were peculiar to Koguryo as they were completely different from other countries.
Depicted on many of those paintings are Korean wrestling and Supakhui, traditional martial art games dating back to the period of Koguryo. Almost all mural paintings belonging to the period of Koguryo including mural paintings found on the interior walls of tombs in Yaksu-ri and Tokhung-ri and Tomb No.1 in Jangchon, Dance Tomb and Hunt Tomb portray scenes showing Koguryo people on horses hunting animals with bows in high militant spirit. They are listed as precious treasures of the Korean nation for their rich and diverse themes, vivid and truthful depiction and original state preserved until today. The paintings extensively and deeply represent politics, economy, military affair, culture, religious belief and all other aspects of life.
A drawing depicting a dwelling house in the Dance Tomb and a painting dealing with lotuses in the Twin Pillar Tomb and a drawing portraying a strong man in the Three Chamber Tomb vividly represent the objects by bold yet free strokes and by delicate and soft yet sharp and elastic lines. In the drawing of a mythological turtle in particular, thin lines were used to depict ganoid scales of a snake when it winds up its body around the turtle. The drawings depicting four Gods and a yellow dragon found in Three Tombs in Kangso and in the Fourth and Fifth Tombs of the Five Tombs in Japan mean the zenith of the mural paintings in Koguryo for their rich colors, truthful depiction, perfect combination of line and color and the skilful representation of the light and dark sides of glassy and glossy skins of animals when they get wet. These paintings have retained their distinct colors for thousands of years. They originated from Pyongyang.
The oldest tombs among the tombs having these mural paintings dating back to the period of Koguryo were found in areas around Pyongyang: The tomb with a mural painting in Kumok-ri is believed to date back to about the first to second century A.D. and Tomb No. 2 in Usan-ri was built before the second century A.D. These tombs resulted in the appearance of the Mural Painting Tomb of King Ko Kuk Won in the mid-fourth century, the same style tomb in Yaksu-ri in late fourth to early in the fifth century, a similar tomb in Tokhung-ri early in the fifth century and three tombs with mural paintings in Three Tombs in Kangso in late Koguryo. They represented the climax in the development of mural paintings in Koguryo.
More than 100 mural paintings are found distributed in areas around Hwanin, Jipan and Pyongyang, former capitals of Koguryo. Nearly 80 tombs with mural paintings including King Tongmyong's Mausoleum, Twin Pillar Tomb, Four Gods Tomb in Honam-ri, Mural Painting in Tongam-ri and Kaema Tomb were surveyed and excavated. Most of the tombs with mural paintings including the Tomb of King Ko Kuk Won, those tombs in Tokhung-ri, Yaksu-ri and Susan-ri listed as masterpieces for their thematic contents and portrayal are concentrated in areas around Pyongyang. The mural paintings belonging to the period of Koguryo that had developed with Pyongyang as centre reached the highest level of their development in the period of Koguryo. They had a strong impact on the development of drawings in Paekje, Silla, Kaya and other kingdoms of the same race and even surrounding countries and became a source and a model of mural paintings in Korea in medieval ages.
Ariane Perrin, Ph.D. Candidate in Korean Art and Archaeology, SOAS, University of London
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been a new State Party to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention since October 1998 and is only beginning to implement this international Convention. To date, very few sites from the Northeast Asian sphere have been designated as World Heritage sites, despite the fact that this was a region of cultural interaction and hence, a region of great historical and archaeological interest.
In order to intensify international collaboration in the field of heritage protection, the DPRK has sought to nominate properties for eventual inscription on the World Heritage List. Therefore, a UNESCO expert mission was undertaken in the DPRK from August 5-12, 2000 with the aim of assisting the Korean authorities in drafting the nomination file for the Goguryeo tombs by providing technical expertise on conservation and management planning.
The Goguryeo Kingdom (37 B.C- A.D 668) produced thousands of tombs which range from the simple cairn to the more elaborate stone chamber covered by an earthen mound. The latter were sometimes found decorated with colorful wall paintings which are dated between the 4th and the 7th centuries A.D. These burials are found scattered on both sides of the Yalu River in Jian, Jilin province,in the Liaodong peninsula of northeast China and in the
vicinity of Pyeongyang in North Korea.In total about 90 Goguryeo tombs with wall paintings have been discovered so far,including those located in China, and some 70 tombs are concentrated in the vicinity of Pyeongyang.
The latest archaeological excavations in Korea and China of the past decade force us to reconsider the extent of Goguryeo's cultural and political sphere of influence and interaction in the northeast Asian region as well as in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The cultural background of the numerous Chinese and foreign kingdoms, including Goguryeo, which existed in East Asia is revealed to have been of considerable complexity, with various layers of artistic, religious and cultural influences. In the absence of contemporary historical texts from the Goguryeo Kingdom, the wall paintings have great historical and artistic value since they bear a rare and early testimony to a painting tradition in East Asia, and constitute a unique testimony to the religious beliefs pervading this kingdom. They represent the earliest known example of Taoist imagery and one of the earliest astrological representations in Korea.
With the warming of relations between the North and the South and the growing number of inter-Korean projects, mostly commercial but also tourism-related (such as the cruise ship tours to Mount Geumgang),there will be in the near future growing pressure to open sites to visitors. The Goguryeo tombs will most likely be the first sites to be visited not only by Korean tourists but also by Chinese and Japanese tourists as they form part of a
broader East Asian cultural sphere.(The earlier capitals of this kingdom were located in the Liaoning and Jilin provinces of China) There is still a large Korean community living in this part of China).
It is with those facts in mind that the UNESCO expert mission reviewed the nomination file and the management plan of the Goguryeo tombs in order to establish policies for the conservation and presentation of these sites.
The mission was led by Mrs. Minja Yang, Deputy Director and UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director for the Asia-Pacific Region, and comprised of various international specialists in the field of conservation and management, including an expert on legal issues and urbanist;an expert on wall painting conservation from the International Centre for the Study of thePreservation and Restoration of Cultural Property(ICCROM), Italy; an expert on management planning from English Heritage; and a curator of Korean art.
As my Ph.D.dissertation focuses on the Goguryeo tombs decorated with wall paintings, I was invited to participate in the mission as a consultant for the history and archaelogy ofthe Goguryeo Kingdom.Several rounds of meetings were held with North Korean experts from the Management Bureau for Cultural Property Conservation (MBCPC) and the Korean Cultural Preservation Agency (KCPA) which compiled the famous 20-volume series Joseon yujeok yumul dogam "llustrated Book of Ruins and Relics of Korea" from 1990 to 1996, of which four volumes are dedicated to the Goguryeo relics and sites.
Field visits to a number of Goguryeo tombs in the Pyeongyang, Nampo, and Anak regions were also organized, as well as visits to temple and tomb sites from the Goryeo period near Gaeseong.We discussed the legal and dministrative system of the DPRK for the protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage and tackled the issues of conservation of the wall paintings and the management plan of the goguryeo tomb sites.
The issues of contextual comparison and authenticity criteria were raised as well. Some tombs, such as the Tomb of King Dongmyeong and the Tomb of King Wanggeon have been heavily reconstructed and may not pass the test of authenticity of the World Heritage Convention. Historians in the DPRK are still reluctant to consider any foreign contact and exchange in accordance with their Juche ideology of self-reliance.
Local scholars like to stress in particular the fact that Goguryeo developed independently from any external influences. This has sometimes led to some exaggeration in defining the boundaries of the Goguryeo territory, extending it beyond what archaeological evidence permits us to believe. The strong political bias underlying historical interpretation in North Korean historiography has even prompted the fabrication of new historical evidence (e.g. the Tomb of Dangun, the founder of the Korean nation).
The UNESCO expert mission has stressed the importance of placing the Goguryeo Kingdom within a broader historical and geographical context by speaking of cultural interaction with the neighbouring region of Liaoning (an important region of interaction during the Han, Wei and Jin period, and a former Goguryeo territory) and Shandong province.
The first draft of the nomination file comprised only 20 Goguryeo decorated tombs which have been selected not only for their historical value (such as the Tomb of Anak No.3 and the Deokheungri tomb that are the only two Goguryeo tombs which have been firmly dated thanks to a funerary epitaph) but also for the quality of their paintings. Six out of the 20 tombs in the nomination file are open to visitors.
They include: Anak No. 3, Yaksu-ri, Susan-ri, Gangseo Great and Middle tombs, and Deokheung-ri. We visited all of these tombs with the exception of the Susan-ri tomb. Three sets of equipment for monitoring changes of temperature inside the tombs,that had been donated by the Hirayama Foundation, were installed in Anak No.3, the Gangseo Great tomb and the Deokheung-ri tomb.
The wall paintings appeared to be in fairly good condition given the fact that they are about 1,500 years old. Few studies have been dedicated to the analysis of early Korean pigments. However, with growing concern over the conservation of the Goguryeo tombs wall paintings, some recent research efforts have focused on the nature of these pigments in an effort to bring forth appropriate conservation methods.
A glass structure has been built inside the funerary chamber of the Gangseo Great and Middle tombs, Anak No. 3 and Deokheung-ri tombs to protect the wall paintings. Some wall paintings were hardly visible because of water condensation forming on the glass. Given the small size of the tombs, not more than five to six people can visit the tomb at the same time.
Other visits included Bohyeon Temple, a Goryeo dynasty temple built in 1042 where one set of the 80,000 woodblocks of the Buddhist scriptures known as the Tripitaka is housed; the Seonggyungwan Academy and the Gaeseong Museum of Goryeo History; and the Tomb of King Wanggeon, founder of the Goryeo Kingdom, whose burial chamber is decorated with wall paintings.
The site was reconstructed in 1995. The original stone sculptures with the 12 animals of the Oriental zodiac which decorated the base of the tomb have been removed and put along the corridor which leads to the burial chamber. The wall paintings were hardly visible because of water condensation on the glass panels. Relics were also on display.
Perhaps the most striking site in terms of the remarkable landscape setting was the tomb of King Gongmin, the 31st Goryeo monarch, which is located up on a hill in an outstanding location, overlooking mountains. No access to the burial chamber was allowed but there is a smaller model of the interior of
the tomb which is on display in an on-site pavilion. The tomb has been closed since 1975.
This trip to North Korea was the second one for me, following a first trip in 1988. Unlike China which has dramatically changed over the past decade, I found that Pyeongyang remained much the same: a quiet city with naked walls, barely lit at night, with little traffic or lines of people walking. As expected,we did not have the opportunity nor the time to meet the local population.
The UNESCO mission gave me the unique opportunity to visit several Goguryeo tombs located in the DPRK and complemented well my six-months of fieldwork in northeast China in 1998. Both parties were very pleased by the positive outcome of the mission; we had several opportunities to discuss matters directly with local experts and exchange views and information. We were impressed by the amount of time and effort the North Korean specialists put into preparing and translating all the working documents in a relatively short span of time.
The local authorities are profoundly committed to the protection of their heritage. We were equally impressed by the beauty of the sites which we found to be very well managed. It is hoped that such a high level of maintenance will be continued in the future despite the development of tourist facilities.
By David Scofield
SEOUL - The nuclear dispute isn't the only defining issue involving China, North Korea and South Korea. Culture wars, too, are being waged diplomatically as well as passionately over little-known but breathtakingly lovely tomb murals in Northeast Asia and what these paintings say about more than a thousand years of human development, art and religion.
Except for historians of 6th-century East Asian culture, few people know of the controversial Goguryeo tomb murals tucked away in China's remote northeast, but North Korea also claims the art and tombs depicting life, death and an afterlife. And, problematically for both Beijing and Pyongyang, they are found on both sides of the China-North Korea border, with implications for the history of the Manchurian region.
South Korea, with the financial resources and academic and political muscle to argue its Korean Peninsula patrimony, has been muted in arguing the case of the Goguryeo murals, its close economic ties with China being a primary reason for its reticence. North Korea, too, diminished in resources but desperately depending on China, has been all but unheard on the issue. China, meanwhile, has mounted a powerful campaign, the Northeast Asian Project, launched in February 2002.
Chinese officials are fond of likening their relationships with North Korea and Vietnam as being as close as "lips and teeth". Here, the teeth are in evidence, although North and South Korea are offered a rare opportunity to act in concert to assert their historical claims and shared national ancestry.
And when the case for declaring an international cultural site is brought before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), China is expected to prevail - largely because its rivals have been quiescent about the 1,500-year-old cultural relics.
The tomb murals date from around AD 500 during the Goguryeo period, 37 BC-AD 668. The exquisite, still vividly colored murals depict daily life and sustaining mythologies. So far about 70 murals have been found, mostly in the Taedong river basin near Pyongyang, the Anak area in South Hwanghae province, and in Ji'an in China's Jilin province.
A leading power during the Three Kingdoms period, Goguryeo occupied the present territory of North Korea and also held sway over the vast Manchurian region for some 700 years until the late 7th century AD, according to Korean academics. By the 4th century, Goguryeo had been firmly established as a powerful kingdom and frequently clashed with China, while successfully containing its southern rivals, the academics argue.
Murals would lift image of famine, suffering
Pyongyang academics plan to reapply to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to designate the Goguryeo murals around Pyongyang as a declared a North Korean World Heritage Site, the first in that nation. This would be a boon to a country that receives little international attention, and scant positive notice, for activities that do not involve nuclear weapons, missiles, drugs, famine, refugees or depraved indifference to human life. It would also give international validation to the Korean nature both of the murals and also of the kingdom to which they belonged.
Researchers from the state-funded Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have plans of their own. They have been actively studying the kingdom to which the murals belong as part of a long-running Northeast Asian history project called "Northeast Progress" and have concluded that Goguryeo was a client state of China, giving Beijing claim over the kingdom and its artistic legacy.
The Chinese academics and researchers hope to have the Goguryeo tomb murals in Ji'an declared a World Heritage Site during a UNESCO meeting in Suzhou next June. That the Ji'an murals are in Chinese territory is without question, but the ethnic legacy of these works becomes more complicated south of the Yula (Amok) River.
Goguryeo is considered by Koreans to be the first kingdom of Korea. If China is successful in proving its claim to the murals and by extension the Goguryeo kingdom, what of Korea's southwest kingdom of Paekche, which was founded by the son of the founder of Goguryeo?
Officially, the North Koreans have been relatively quiet on the matter, their studied silence a testament to the influence of China, their only benefactor.
During the Cold War, North Korea received from its Chinese and then-Soviet patrons a steady infusion of technology and resources necessary to sustain the country and guarantee its strategic defense against the US nemesis forces located in South Korea. In those days neither China nor the Soviet Union - themselves balancing a mutually uneasy relationship - would allow much foreign influence in North Korea, lest it upset their own delicate strategic equilibrium.
Today, however, both China and Russia regard North Korea as a difficult, anachronistic and dangerous neighbor, and technology, other resources and financial aid have slowed to a trickle. Russia and the other states and regions of the former Soviet Union are far more interested in maintaining good relations with capitalist South Korean than in fortifying the world's last Stalinist enclave.
China cows Koreas in mural dispute
China remains the only nation with the means, the influence and the political will to prop up the failed North Korean state. That will appears to be waning, however, as evidenced by China's decision to suspend its North Korean oil pipeline operations last spring. Pyongyang is still smarting from that decision, keenly aware of its dependence on Beijing and, hence, unlikely to openly challenge what it considers China's irredentist claims in regard to the murals.
Ad hoc groups of South Korean historians, however, seem intent to join the battle, belatedly coming together to challenge what they consider China's remapping of history. The independence and inherent sui generis state of 2,000-year-old cultures in East Asia will be a hard issue for either the Chinese or the Koreans to argue definitively. But the coming together of Koreans sharing their collective academic muscle opens the door for greater academic exchange between the two Koreas, a real step forward. Given its relative freedom, the major intellectual responsibility lies with Seoul.
The Koreans, however, are latecomers, giving China's advance in the mural issue. If the South Korean government does not urgently and vigorously challenge China over the murals through sound academic and historical initiative - regardless of possible trade impact - then the Chinese may well prevail in their claim to the murals. Then the Koreans, both North and South, could "lose" 700 years of history.
Official South Korea's lackluster approach to the murals, however, contrasts sharply with its long-standing and vigorous support to rectify what it calls "historic distortions" involving Korea and its North Asia neighbors. The most prominent of these has been the so-called Sea of Japan "error". South Korea successfully lobbied the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) for more than a decade to change the name of the current "Sea of Japan" to the "East Sea", while issues of greater gravity involving China - like the disputed murals - elicit a decidedly understated reaction.
The government offers rewards to students and "netizens" who find and challenge historical errors - most errors center on the Sea of Japan issue. The website About.com received more than 20 e-mails a day for more than a year from a South Korean group calling itself the Volunteer Agency Network of Korea (VANK), insisting that the website rectify its "error" in using the name "Sea of Japan" instead of "East Sea" to describe the sea to the west of Japan. About.com finally changed the name, it said, not necessarily because it agreed with the South Korean geography activists but because the e-mail bombardment was so annoying. (Asia Times Online has received similar e-mails but still describes the body of water as the Sea of Japan.)
Yet China's declaration that Korea's founding kingdom was not Korean, if true giving China some historical claim to what is today North Korea, encourages the South Korean government to assert mildly, "We will act in a way that will not upset our diplomatic [read 'economic'] relationship with China." There appears to be little interest in the murals from the geographical renaming activists in VANK, and Korea's "West Sea", the body of water between Korea and China referred to as the Yellow Sea by the International Hydrographic Organization, is not being challenged by South Korea.
Next June, when the murals' sovereignty case is argued before UNESCO, China will present more than six years of effort and an enormous amount of data to support its case. Beijing has devoted more than US$2 billion to its Northeast Asian project, yet South Korea, despite the resources to counter China, has not react in an organized way to China's mural campaign.
Given Seoul's tepid response in challenging Beijing, a robust Korean response appears highly unlikely. And Koreans could well see their cultural legacy subsumed by China, losing a historical pillar of Korean identity and facing the prospect of future territorial challenges from Beijing.
By Lawrence Sheets, NPR Radio report, February 12, 2004
The legend surrounding the birth of North Korea's Kim Jong Il is
extraordinary. But outside North Korea, few take that legend seriously. NPR's Lawrence Sheets traveled to a humble Russian farming town to learn about the
real birthplace of the North Korean leader...
Joongang Ilbo reported that "The Rodong Sinmun is the window to North Korea. It holds the past, present and future of the regime," said Professor Kang Sung-yoon of the Institute for North Korean Studies at Dongguk University Tuesday. Mr. Kang is leading a 30-strong group of academics that has undertaken a two-year project to comprehensively study 54 years' worth of the daily newspaper of the North Korean Workers' Party, spanning 1949 through 2005. Professor Koh Yu-hwan of DPRK is also on the team. The Rodong Sinmun was founded on Jan. 1, 1945.
The team held the interim seminar at
Dongguk University Tuesday, in which six papers that studied the November 1, 1945 edition to editions from April 1950 were made public.
New findings concerning DPRK were disclosed; for example, contrary to speculation that
idolization of the late leader Kim Il-sung began in the 1950s, the Rodong Sinmun revealed that DPRK was moving to build a Kim Il-sung statue in
1949. The research project is not without hurdles, the foremost of which is obtaining back issues of the Rodong Sinmun. The researchers had to
travel to the Beijing Library, where they photocopied 100 daily editions from 1949
that were missing from the archives of the South Korean Ministry of Unification. Next, the team will compare what they have with microfilm
of the newspaper at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, Japan. (Lee
Young-jong, "FROM NORTH NEWSPAPER, A HISTORY BARED," Seoul, 05/28/03)
ARCHIVE:
(October 2002 ~ February 2003)
