뉴스레터

A trip to the border region between Korea and China, Manchuria, Dongbei Sansheng (Three Northeast Provinces), Gando ... whatever the name is, makes one's heart run faster. With excitement and anticipation, I joined a group of journalists in a tour of Northeast China from Fangchung, the lowest reaches of the Tumen River, to Dandong and to Huanchinping from June 25 to July 2. Throughout the tour, I felt wonder and joy, but this excitement was dimmed with sadness and gloom whenever North Korea came into my sight.

The lower reaches of the Tumen River seen from the viewing platform at the east-end border of China in Fangchung struck me with its vastness and development potential, but at the same time, the sign at the top of the platform that marked the north as Arasa and the south as Joseon with Sea of Japan written in the front depressed us all.

Then after visiting Daeseong Middle School, the Battle of Cheongsanri Monument, Mt. Baekdu and the Jangbaek waterfalls, the Wei Palace in Changchun, and Koguryo ruins in Jian and Huanren, we moved to Dandong and then to Shenyang, the final destination of our tour.

Fanchung, Tumen, Jian, Dandong, all these places face North Korea with only a river between, but while the Chinese side glittered with lights even at night, it was all dark in North Korea and only loud ribbits of frogs could be heard. The story that Chinese used to sneak into North Korea in the 1960s because North Korea was better off than China at that time made my heart even more sore. Traveling the border region, one can easily distinguish North Korea and China by looking at mountains: North Korean mountains were made to terrace field up to their top and looked bald and bare as if they had been shaved off with a clipper.

History Flows with the Future not with the Past

The sight of the Gwanggaeto Stele and mausoleum, Janggunchong (The General's Tomb), and Jolbon Fortress in Jian and Huanren overwhelmed us with its concrete presence beyond 1500 years, but again we could not but feel disappointed at their careless maintenance and signs with no Korean but occasional Japanese explanation when most visitors are Chinese or Korean. Dunhua City, in particular, recently built Balhae Square, where 15 carved rock-figures of 15 Balhae kings including Daejoyoung are erected around like a wall of rocks with a statue of a Tang envoy in front of them. This arrangement of the statue and carvings seems to hint China's ulterior motive.

Looking at the severed bridge over the Amnok River (i.e. the Yalu), Wihwa-do, Bidan-som, and Huangshiping from Dandong, I felt to the core that history flows not with the past but with the present and future. Most of the islands located at downstream of the Amnok River belong to North Korea, but Dandung City has built an artificial island, Yueliangdao, in the middle of the river and is running recreational facilities. Adding salt to injury, the media report that North Korea rents Hwangshiping to China for 50 years further leadened our heart.

The General's Tomb believed to be Koguryo King Jangsu's boasted its splendor. The location of the tomb, I thought, is strange because King Jangsu moved the capital to Pyeongyang but his tomb is in Jian, above King Gwanggaeto's tomb, which is against the Korean custom that does not allow a son's or a daughter's tomb above their parents'. I speculated aloud that King Jangsu might have wished to build his tomb where he could watch over his father Gwanggaeto's tomb, to protect his father's tomb from Chinese invaders who would likely have considered Gwanggaeto an irreconcilable enemy and to declare his will to vanquish the invaders from the north even after his death, or simply to be in Guonei City where he had grown up, to which my companions nodded. In other words, Jian has the General's Tomb to protect the country even after death in the same way as Gyeongju has King Munmu's Underwater Tomb in the Sea of Gampo. The sight brought home to me the grand purpose and spirit and glorious history of the people of Koguryo.

On the foundation of this great history, establishing peaceful co-existence and prosperity in Northeast Asia is our duty to our ancestors of 1500 years ago as well as to our descendants of 1500 years later. This realization might be the reason why a trip to the northeast region always makes our heart beat faster.