Foreign websites mark Goguryeo as Han’s territory on maps

SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) — A South Korean civic organization said Tuesday it has found that many renowned world dictionaries and history education websites wrongly mark Korea’s ancient Goguryeo Kingdom as part of the territory of China’s Han Dynasty on their world maps.

Goguryeo was the ancestral kingdom (37 B.C.-668 A.D.) that occupied half of the Korean Peninsula and part of northeastern China, but in recent years, China has suddenly claimed the kingdom as part of its ancestry under what it calls the “Northeast Asia Project.” Han lasted from 206 B.C.-220 A.D.

“We’ve found 16 famous websites include Goguryeo within Han’s territory in their atlases,” said Park Ki-tae, head of the Seoul-based Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), which internationally promotes Korea and its history online.

Such websites include Britannica, Wikipedia, TimeMaps, Nations Online, Crossing the Ocean Sea, Groiler Online and Emperor Heaven, he said.

“The incorrect marks have something to do with China’s Northeast Asia Project. People around the world will recognize Goguryeo as China’s history in the end if the maps are left unattended,” he said.