Goguryeo Fortresses Are Chinese Fortresses, Son Heung-min Is a Chinese Descendant? ... China's 'Korean Culture Theft' Has Gone Too Far

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seo-young] Absurd claims by China distorting history continue daily, sparking controversy.

Today (the 13th), the cyber diplomatic envoy group VANK announced that it discovered that a Goguryeo fortress in Korean history was listed as a Chinese fortress in a recently published English travel guidebook about China by the famous British travel publisher Dorling Kindersley (DK). DK is a publisher with 45 years of history that publishes historical and travel publications in 63 languages.

This guidebook describes the Goguryeo fortress near the Yalu River, Bakjoseong, as "not visited by many people but is the eastern end point included in the Great Wall built during the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Emperor period," and states that "the Great Wall museum exhibits artifacts related to the defensive wall." This can be interpreted as an extension of the Northeast Project, which measures the fortresses built by Goguryeo and Balhae as part of the Great Wall. In particular, VANK analyzed this description as "a trick to incorporate all fortresses within its territory based on current borders into the Great Wall."

China has continuously caused controversy over historical distortion through the Northeast Project, which claims that all countries located in what is now Northeast China originally belonged to China. Representative examples include attempts to incorporate Baekdu Mountain as Changbai Mountain into the Chinese cultural sphere and claims that Korea’s traditional food kimchi is actually the Chinese pickled vegetable 'pao cai.' Domestically, Seoul’s Guro District was heavily criticized for uploading a promotional video produced in China containing similar content on the district office’s official YouTube channel.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

In particular, various games produced in China frequently show historical distortions, increasing public resentment. Previously, Paper Games’ 'Shining Nikki' introduced hanbok items but was embroiled in controversy claiming hanbok is traditional Chinese clothing, leading to service termination just seven days after its Korean launch. Another Chinese mobile game, 'Call Me Emperor,' also sparked Northeast Project controversy by featuring clothing similar to hanbok from the Qing Dynasty era. In response, on the 12th of last month, Kim Seung-soo, a member of the People Power Party, sponsored a bill to amend the Game Industry Promotion Act to block China’s Northeast Project movements in games.

Meanwhile, an incident where some Chinese media reported that Son Heung-min, captain of South Korea’s national soccer team, is "from China" has also recently come to light. On the 10th, an online community post shared an article from local media claiming "Son Heung-min is Korean but his clan origin is the Sun family from Yantai, Shandong." The article included statements such as "Son Heung-min shattered the notion that Chinese people are not suited for soccer." Domestic netizens expressed strong opposition, calling the claim absurd.

This is not the first time Son Heung-min has been claimed to be Chinese by local media in China. Similar claims were reported last December, and at that time, Chinese netizens responded with baseless comments such as "Tracing Son Heung-min’s genealogy historically leads to roots in China," and "He is a descendant of Sun Wukong." Son Heung-min belongs to the Miryang Son clan, originating from Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do.