DPRK ON KOGURYÔ

We mentioned in class last week the conflict over the identity of the Kingdom of Koguryô. While the Republic of Korea has been very vocal in its criticism of the PRC's attempts to portray Koguryô as a Chinese border state, North Korea has been relatively quiet on the issue. Not so any more as the following section of an article on a DPRK official statement indicates:

Chosun Ilbo ("NORTH KOREA TRUMPETS KOGURYO'S 'INDEPENDENCE'", 2004-09-14) reported that the DPRK's state-run Korea Central Broadcasting reported Tuesday that, "Koguryo firmly adhered to its national independence in foreign relations, and it resolutely crushed any attempt to violate that independence... Koguryo was not a large country's ethnic minority administration, regional administration, or tributary state, but a bold, independent nation." This seems to be indirect criticism of PRC distortions of Koguryo history, in which the PRC has claimed that Koguryo was no more than a regional administrative division of the PRC. The broadcaster also said, "Koguryo was well known as dignified strong country because it consistently stuck to its independence seemingly unfamiliar with subservience... In particular, its use of its own chronological era system and independent foreign policy were proof positive of its independence."