'Korea's 1st kingdom ruled today's Beijing'

Shim Baek-kang, president of the Korea National Culture Research Center, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times, Thursday.

Scholar unveils evidence backing Gojoseon's strong presence

By Shim Jae-yun, Lee Ji-hye

An ancient kingdom, which existed on the Korean Peninsula between 2333 and 100 B.C., controlled a significantly large part of the present northeastern region of China for some time, according to a senior historian.

The claim is part of a significant project that is currently underway in Korea. The area in question was called Gojoseon back then, and the project claims ancient Korea actually stretched into those regions.

Many Chinese scholars, however, not only vehemently deny the Korean-based study, but claim the exact opposite. Their research argues that the ancient kingdom was part of what is now China.

Shim Baek-kang, president of the Korea National Culture Research Center in Seoul, says much of Korea’s glorious past was forgotten as a combined result of negligent scholars and the appointment of Japanese officials during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945. He argues the Japanese imperialists distorted much of the truth and evidence pertaining to Gojoseon.

“A piece of evidence that I found says that the word Joseon was used to describe ancient China’s region called Yoseo which is present day Quinhuangdao in the Hebei Province,” the 58-year-old said.

“This confirms that the region was actually inhabited by the ancient Joseon people. The Chinese ancestors said so themselves in these historical records that the kingdom was located in what used to be the Yoseo region of ancient China.”

Shim said he found evidence supporting his claim through exhaustive research, which continued for two decades, and summarized his findings in the newly published book, titled, “The Forgotten History: Recovering Gojoseon.”

A map of Gojoseon territory, now presumed to be a wider area into today’s Northeast China, according Shim’s findings through historical data, which includes the word ‘Joseon’ in regional descriptions of the marked areas, proving it to be Gojoseon territory.

It was published in late August.

His research is based upon historical data inscribed on 1,500-year-old steles in the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum, originally the Mukden Palace of the early Qing Dynasty of China.

“The stones of the museum are over 1,500 years old, and the ancient documents are made available for visitors from around the world,” Shim stated. “The information in the ancient documents is indisputable.”

Shim has made more than 50 trips to China over the past two decades.

His new book rejects Chinese scholars’ claim that ancient Korea was a part of its territory.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Northeast Project, financially supported by the Chinese government, argues that a historical Korean kingdom existed near the border of present-day North Korea and Northeast China. According to their research, this falls within ancient Chinese territory.

In particular, it claims China’s ownership of Gojoseon, along with other ancient Korean kingdoms such as Goguryeo and Balhae. Needless to say, the project has sparked Sino-Korean tensions.

Some pundits say the rekindling of historical disputes among Korea, China and Japan is the outcome of a power shift in the region featuring a rising China and a relatively declining Japan.

Territorial and history disputes between the three nations are nothing new. China and Japan have their own disagreements over land, while Korea and Japan have had own clashes over territory throughout history.

Historical disputes between Korea and China showed signs of relief after President Park Geun-hye took office. Seoul-Beijing relations are often described as being better than in any other period in modern history.

But the fuse for tensions to suddenly explode is still burning.

Shim dismisses China’s claim that an ancient Korean kingdom was under China’s jurisdiction.

“I think it will be difficult for Chinese experts to ignore my findings because my project is based on the work of their ancestors.”

The author says any potential criticism from the Chinese government has never been a concern.

For more than two decades, Shim searched high and low in order to set history straight.

A passionate scholar of traditional Chinese characters, Shim pored through numerous historical books and documents, which were centuries years old and written in ancient Chinese script. He focused on documents such as the “Siku Quanshu” (Complete Library in Four Sections), which was the largest encyclopedia in Chinese history, including records from the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912).

Shim dove into his research to unearth the truth about the ancient kingdom and to reemphasize the Korean patriotism that seems to have been forgotten amid the growing international territorial disputes.

“I have worked constantly to find evidence from Chinese historical archives for two decades,” he said. “Not once have I received a complaint from the Chinese government that rebuts my studies and publications in an attempt to defend its territorial claim.”

The historian says some Korean scholars were also responsible for the historical dispute with China and Korea as they didn’t do enough research of the ancient Korean kingdom.

“Gojoseon needs to be respected and acknowledged in our history,” Shim said.

“What matters is that the government and scholars have blindly followed historical perspectives based on Japan’s colonialism. History represents our spirit as a country and should not be forgotten,” he said.

“Nobody bothered to research the history of Gojoseon, because it is believed to be a myth,” Shim says. “That’s what they want you to think, so that they can distort, devalue and downscale our history.”

He blames the recent territorial controversies in Northeast Asia for Korea’s unstable national identity.

“People lack true patriotism these days because they don’t really know our roots,” he said. “People are thirsty for the truth about what happened, and I want to quench that thirst with my book, which reveals the spirit at the core of Korea’s history, and to reclaim what is ours.”

History education

Shim called on the government to strengthen history education by including historical data from ancient documents in school curriculums.

“I think the Ministry of Education should include my findings in their classes to ensure the proper teaching of history,” Shim said. “What I found should be on the headlines of mainstream media right now.”

Shim suggests that the government form a special committee for history under the presidential office to review my findings and find ways to bolster Korea’s position on historical disputes with neighboring countries.

He criticized the state-run Northeast Asian History Foundation for siding with China regarding the dispute.

In a booklet published in English, the think tank stated that an administrative district of the Chinese Han Empire was inside the Korean peninsula.

The publication, “The Han Commanderies in Early Korean History,” sponsored by Harvard University and the Northeast Asian History Foundation, acknowledged that the regional provinces of the ancient Chinese kingdom were located within the Korean peninsula.

“If the government does not act upon this issue, I feel a historical revolution is necessary,” Shim said. “There have been democratic revolutions and even industrial revolutions — why not have a revolution about history that aims for the truth?”

Shim not only wants his publications to reach the government and be integrated within national education textbooks, but also plans to have his latest book translated into Chinese and English to raise international awareness on the issue.

“I want people to listen rather than to blindly believe anything said by the Chinese government,” Shim said. “I’ve done my work. I’ve laid out the facts. The only thing left to do is for the next generation to set the system straight and uphold these findings.”

Who is Shim Baek-gang?

Shim Baek-kang, president of the National Culture Research Center, studied traditional Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University, and holds a doctorate in history from Yanbian University in China.

Born in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Shim began learning Chinese characters from the age of five, which gives him an advantage in researching historical data in ancient letters.

In his previous publications, Shim stressed the significance of looking through historical data, especially when dealing with Korean territory, with numerous history publications include “Naklang of the Four Commanderies of the Han,” “From the Hwang River to the Halla,” and “Essays on Oriental Ideology.”

He also serves as chairman of the Oriental Culture Research Lab, along with teaching Chinese characters as a professor at Chungnam National University.

He returned to Yanbian University as a research professor, and is a visiting scholar at Chinese Culture University in Taiwan.