뉴스레터

Why We Really Learn History

Would it be nice if the past were beautiful? Of course. The more beautiful, the better. But if we tried to make the past beautiful to compensate for what we think is lacking in the present, what we get wouldn't be true beauty. I feel that one of the Korean people's collective wishes is for our nation to have larger land. And that may explain why we Koreans feel very much drawn to the king who, as history tells us, had vast territory under his rule. Koreans aren't the only people, of course, fantasizing and being nostalgic about their past glories. China or Japan is also trapped in similar historical perception. They say history should be a source of inspiration and lesson. The way I understand it, inspiration here may refer to past glories, and lesson past pains. But we shouldn't stop at drawing inspiration from past glories. We should take one step further and take a look at what led to the glories and how. That's how our present can benefit from it. We shouldn't avoid dealing with past pains in shame. Instead, we should reflect on ourselves to avoid experiencing those pains again. After all, what we need to learn from history is the willingness to find and emulate the positive, improving aspects of past glories and overcome the negative aspects of past pains. Otherwise, we would be only left with a perception obsessive about past glories, turning away from reality. This, I believe, is why we really learn history.

Korean, Chinese, and Japanese Perceptions of History

When was the most glorious period in Korean history? I guess many Koreans will name the era of King Gwanggaeto the Great. And they will also proudly compare King Gwanggaeto with Alexander the Great, Caesar, or Genghis Khan. It is a touching story how he took over the country, after his uncle King Sosurim pulled it out of crisis once his grandfather King Kokukwon was killed by the Baekje army, and built a great empire out of it. Afterwards, Koguryo not only squashed an invasion from Sui, the most powerful country in East Asia at that time, but played a decisive role in leading Sui to its downfall. Koguryo also squashed an invasion from Tang, the dynasty subsequent to Sui, apparently leaving the Emperor Taizong of Tang, one of the greatest figures in Chinese history, in a state of mind that would cause him to say in his will, 'Don't attack Koguryo.' How can we ever forget such a country? No wonder we are outraged by China's claim that Koguryo was nothing but a local government. To those of us who believed that Koguryo was part of Korean history beyond the shadow of a doubt, China's claims that Koguryo was a local government and the wars with Sui and with Tang were Chinese 'civil wars' came as a shock.

The inclusion of Koguryo as part of Chinese history, as done in the so-called 'Northeast Project,' is a result of an obviously wrong historical perception. This doesn't mean it's okay to think that the territory that used to be occupied by Koguryo is Korean territory. The reason is that there are few countries that haven't been ruled by other countries, or haven't ruled other countries, at one point or another in history. If they started to claim that the territory that used to be under their rule in their heyday were their present territory, it would perhaps lead to endless wars across the world. It is a bit of irony that Japan's claim of Mimana Hinonfu, a Japanese colonial outpost in Mimana, is being justified in the inscriptions on the Gwanggaeto Stele, the icon of Koguryo's glories. During the Japanese colonial period, government scholars of Japan did everything they could to find specific relics and sites that would substantiate Mimana Nihonfu in Gyeongsang Province, to no avail. In an attempt to accentuate the achievements of King Gwanggaeto to be inscribed on the Gwanggaeto Stele, some exaggeration was used in documenting the power of the country he conquered, The exaggerated descriptions included that of the army of Wa, which was used by the government scholars of imperialist Japan mentioned earlier in justifying their claim of Mimana Nihonfu. At this point, we can see that the Gwanggaeto Stele inscriptions are not entirely accurate accounts of facts as they were. As illustrated above, the Northeast Project, Mimana Nihonfu, the Gwanggaeto Stele inscriptions, all taken together, suggest that historical perception from the standpoint of their heyday or expansion is universal to Korea, China, and Japan.

Koguryo's Actual View of the World

Koguryo's view of the world, what a charming phrase, implying that. Koguryo in its perception was on a par with China, a country that was the center of the world! The pride of the Koguryo people we can really take pride in! But as it turned out, Silla also had a self-centered perception, as suggested by the rumor that if Silla built a 9-story Wooden Pagoda at Hwangnyongsa, the nine surrounding states would surrender. The same goes for Baekje. There is not an insignificant amount of records that the king of Baekje appointed his vassal as a king. In other words, the king of Baekje considered himself a great king who had taken feudal lords under his wing. As such, it is not unusual for any country to think that the world revolves around it. The same still holds true today. Take world maps, for example. Just as Korea is placed at the center of any world map made in Korea, the United States is placed at the center of any world map made in the United States. Then it would be too far-fetched to think that Koguryo was actually on a par with China, just because it had a perception based on its strong power that it was on a par with China and was at the center of the world, Koguryo was not an economically well developed region, and it wasn't really on a par with China in terms of economic power. This can be inferred from the fact that Koguryo, having occupied the regions of the nomadic states around China, couldn't go as far as launching attacks on the Central Plain region of China. It seems to me that Koguryo was just a threat to China, at most preventing China from expanding. So, in my opinion, just because we confirmed that Koguryo had the perception that they were the center of the world doesn't mean that it's okay to think that Koguryo was the center of the world.

What We Should Make of the Gwanggaeto Stele

Then what should we make of Koguryo's glory highlighted in the Gwanggaeto Stele inscriptions? Without a doubt, Koguryo showed us a glorious history. But that's glory from the past. Koguryo, a state of glory, although having managed to squash early invasions from the Tang Dynasty, failed to cope with their continued invasions and Silla's crafty diplomacy, and ended up meeting its doom. Here we can find the glorious inspiration and painful lesson that Koguryo left behind. When we consider the Gwanggaeto Stele, it wouldn't be the right thing to focus only on Koguryo's glory. We should also take equal interest in why that glory was lost and how. In reality, we have grown out of nothing into a top 10 global economy and created the glorious present we enjoy today. But growing bigger and at a faster pace than we are is China. This is a situation that necessitates our reflection on the painful failure to fend off Tang's attacks as much as Koguryo's glory symbolized by King Gwanggaeto. This is how we learn from past mistakes and continue to walk the path of success. What we have to use this time, of course, will be science and technology, and culture that moves people's heart.