`Maps Hints Chinese Territory as Ancient Korean

An area of land currently controlled by China was widely recognized as belonging to ancient Korea about a century ago, a study showed.

Lee Don-kyu, a Korean studies professor at the Myongji University in Seoul, said Tuesday that a review of 400 maps produced between the 16th and 19th centuries revealed that some 100 maps from between the early 18th century and 1910 clearly defined the disputed border area, Gando, as being ancient Korean.

Gando, known in Chinese as Jiandao, refers to a small piece of marshland between the Yanbian region and Long county in northeast China.

Korea and China have often clashed in recent years over what Koreans believe is an attempt by China to claim that the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, which ruled most of northeastern China for more than 700 years until the late seventh century, was China's. Gando is one of the disputed territories.