He is revered as a Korean national hero on both sides of the divided
peninsula, while Chinese attempts to claim Koguryo as its own have
provoked fury among its neighbors.
One of Koguryo's capitals, now the modern Chinese city of Jian, stands
on the Yalu river on the frontier between China and Kim Jong-Un's North
Korea.
It hosts a treasure trove of historical sites and cultural relics,
including royal mausoleums designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites and
decorated with murals depicting traditional wrestling and
tiger-hunting.
A towering stone stele more than six metres (20 feet) tall illustrates
the dispute, with Kwanggaet'o's name carved into the granite -- in the
classical Chinese characters used for writing in northeast Asia at the
time.
"Koguryo is in fact part of Korean history, not Chinese history," said
Hwang Seon-Goo, a South Korean visitor.
"We think that China insists on having its own way."
Soon afterwards Zhang Ming, who identified himself as a Chinese tourist,
expressed keen interest in knowing what the South Korean visitor had
said.
In response, he pointed to the language of the inscription as evidence
of its Chineseness, asking "how it could be Korean" if it was written in
Chinese.
The general Chinese view can be seen in a description in a Jian museum
devoted to the dynasty. "Koguryo was engaged in wars with ancient
central China and surrounding nations and tribes," reads one label.
China, Koreas in modern conflict over ancient kingdom
Tourists visit tombs at a heritage park in the Chinese border city of
Jian,
northeast China's Jilin province
"However, they finally accepted the authority of ancient central China
dynasties and had a main historical trend of tributary kingdom."
The sensitivity of the issue is such that an AFP reporter visiting the
museum was briefly detained by public security officials, before being
ordered to leave Jian and followed out of town.
Koreans on both sides of the divided peninsula claim Koguryo as an
inherent part of their history, and it is a popular theme in South Korea
for novels and television dramas, such as this year's "The Blade and
Petal", a tale of romance and political infighting toward the dynasty's
close.
Koguryo lasted from at least 37 BC until 668 AD, when it was brought
down by an alliance between Tang dynasty China and Silla, a rival Korean
kingdom.
But the areas governed by the empire, spelled Goguryeo in South Korea
and Gaogouli in China, lie in what today are four modern sovereign
states: the two Koreas, China and Russia.
Tensions heated up about a decade ago when China launched the Northeast
Project, a re-examination of the history of the country's border areas
in the region.
Reaction was particularly negative in South Korea where the move was
seen as an attempt to hijack Korean history, and even a possible prelude
to Chinese designs on its ally North Korea were the ruling regime to
collapse.
South Korea's foreign ministry devotes a section of its website to the
topic, putting it on a par with the row with Japan over a disputed
island called Dokdo by Seoul and Takeshima by Tokyo.
"The Korean government considers issues concerning the history of
Goguryeo to be a matter of national identity, and thus places such
issues among its highest priorities," the website says.
China, Koreas in modern conflict over ancient kingdom
A woman walks past tombs at a heritage park in the Chinese border city
of Jian,
in northeast China’s Jilin Province
In 2006 South Korea's then president Roh Moo-Hyun reportedly raised the
research personally with Wen Jiabao, China's premier at the time.
Tensions may have eased since but South Korea still keeps a close eye on
"new cases of historical distortion", according to the foreign
ministry.
Adam Cathcart, a lecturer in Chinese history at Britain's University of
Leeds said: "When you look at North Korean relations with China, when
you look at South Korean relations with China, it's an impediment, it's
an irritant, it's something that all sides are watching."
Kwanggaet'o, who reigned from 391 to 413 and whose name is often
translated as "broad expander of territory", is known in China as
Haotaiwang. South Korea spells his name Gwanggaeto -- and uses it for a
class of its warships.
For its part North Korea -- whose government proclaims a "military
first" principle -- also has numerous sites related to Koguryo and
sometimes invokes the dynasty in its propaganda.
"Koguryo martial valour is something that is seen as very desirable from
an historical exemplary point of view... for the North Korean leaders,"
said Cathcart, an expert in relations between Beijing and Pyongyang.
North Korea's young leader -- who recently had his uncle executed --
would undoubtedly want to visit the ancient tombs in Jian, he added.
"That's a photo op to die for for Kim Jong-Un," he said.
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