VANK created a poster to inform the world about China’s historic distortion attempt and the reality of its Northeast Asian policy. (image: VANK)
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a cyber diplomatic organization, has launched a campaign to correct misconceptions that could arise from the information board of the Gwanggaeto Stele installed in the city of Jian in Jilin Province, China.
The Gwanggaeto Stele is a memorial stele for the tomb of King Gwanggaeto (374-413) of Goguryeo, an ancient Korean kingdom.
Goguryeo controlled the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China for more than 700 years until 668 A.D.
But the information board has a misleading description about the Gwanggaeto Stele, saying that it is a genuine work of Chinese stele art.
Installed by the Chinese government in 2017, the information board claims in Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese and Russian that the Gwanggaeto Stele is a genuine work of Chinese stele art.
South Korean media and private organizations have asked the Chinese government on numerous occasions to change the description from “Chinese stele art” to “Goguryeo-era stele art.”
These efforts have yet to bear fruit, with the information board remaining unchanged.
VANK claims that China is attempting to inform the tourists visiting the Gwanggaeto Stele from all around the world that Goguryeo is a part of Chinese history in its bids to solidify its Northeast Asian Policy.
The Northeast Asian Policy refers to the massive project that China carried out from 2002 to 2007 to turn every historical event that happened within its borders into Chinese history.
Under this project, China distorted the domain of Goguryeo into a Chinese one in the maps of world history textbooks, museums and history sites.
VANK created a poster to inform the world about China’s historic distortion attempt and the reality of its Northeast Asian policy.
The poster that VANK created compares two information boards.
The information board on the left is the one currently installed in front of the Gwanggaeto Stele, while the information board on the right has a more factual description about the Gwanggaeto Stele.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
