Trump enrages entire nation of South Korea with offhand claim it 'actually used to be part of China'

[StraightShooter]

Trump enrages entire nation of South Korea with offhand claim it 'actually used to be part of China'

• President finds himself in bizarre row in South Korea after telling the Wall Street Journal: 'Korea actually used to be a part of China'
• South Koreans believe he was prompted to say it by China's President Xi Jinping after their meeting in Mar-a-Lago
• Protests have been held outside China's embassy in Seoul while country's foreign ministry has rebuked U.S. president
• South Korea fears China wants to make it part of its sphere of influence by rewriting history and turning past Korean kingdom into 'vassal state'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 04:59 EDT, 21 April 2017 | UPDATED: 18:56 EDT, 21 April 2017

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Donald Trump's has enraged south Koreans by saying in an apparently offhand comment after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that 'Korea actually used to be a part of China'.

The historically inaccurate sentence from a Wall Street Journal interview bumps up against a raft of historical and political sensitivities in a country where many have long feared Chinese designs on the Korean Peninsula.

It also feeds neatly into longstanding worries about Seoul's shrinking role in dealing with its nuclear-armed rival, North Korea.

In Seoul, protesters gathered outside China's embassy to make their point, while the South Korean foreign ministry issued a public rebuke to the U.S. president.

Ahn Hong-seok, a 22-year-old college student, said that if Trump 'is a person capable of becoming a president, I think he should not distort the precious history of another country.'

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That went well: Korean protesters took to the streets outside the Chinese embassy demanding an apology for what Trump said - which they believe was actually down to Beijing's leader, Xi Jinping

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Contentious point: The protests in South Korea focused on China but the country's foreign ministry issued a rebuke directed at President Trump

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Close relationship: Trump praised Xi Jinping, his Chinese opposite number, but now it is being claimed that the Communist leader misled Trump on the history of the Korean peninsula, raising long-held fears that China wants to make it part of its sphere of infleunce

Many in South Korea assume that Xi fed that ahistorical nugget to Trump, who also admitted that after 10 minutes listening to Xi, he realized that Beijing's influence over North Korea was much less than he had thought.

Here is why Trump's comments strike a nerve in South Korea:

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Built that wall: The Great Wall of China can be seen from North Korea's border town of Sinuiju. The history of the kingdom of Goguryeo, which existed from 37BC to 668AD has become a flashpoint between South Korea and Communist China

SOUTH KOREA FEARS CHINA SEES IT AS 'VASSAL STATE'

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/previe...594844242/636x382_MP4_8351378858594844242.mp4


Several South Korean newspapers mentioned the Chinese claims over Goguryeo as they lashed out at Trump over the comments, and at Xi for allegedly feeding the U.S. president Chinese-centric views.

Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper, said China was looking to 'tame' South Korea and weaken the traditional alliance between Seoul and Washington in an attempt to expand its regional influence.

Seoul has long worried about losing its voice in international efforts to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat - something local media have termed 'Korea Passing.' Seoul and Beijing are also bickering over plans to deploy in South Korea an advanced U.S. missile defense system that China sees as a security threat.

In the meantime, Trump has reportedly settled on a 'maximum pressure and engagement' strategy on North Korea, which is mainly about enlisting the help of Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang.

'It's highly possible that China will try to solve the problems surrounding the Korean Peninsula based on a hegemonic stance that likens the Koreas to Chinese vassal states,' said the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper on Thursday. 'If Trump has agreed with this view, you will never know what kind of a deal the two global powers will make over the fate of the Korean Peninsula.'

Insecurities about both China's and Trump's intentions in the region will be among the big issues as South Koreans vote next month for their next president.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ntence-enraged-South-Korea.html#ixzz4eylCPHNZ
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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/0...ingle-trump-sentence-enraged-south-korea.html

AP Explains: How a single Trump sentence enraged South Korea
Published April 21, 2017
Associated Press
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  FILE - In this April 7, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Following his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped on a historical land mine when he told the Wall Street Journal that “Korea actually used to be a part of China.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) (The Associated Press)
  

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SEOUL, South Korea – U.S. President Donald Trump's apparently offhand comment after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — that "Korea actually used to be a part of China" — has enraged many South Koreans.

The historically inaccurate sentence from a Wall Street Journal interview bumps up against a raft of historical and political sensitivities in a country where many have long feared Chinese designs on the Korean Peninsula. It also feeds neatly into longstanding worries about Seoul's shrinking role in dealing with its nuclear-armed rival, North Korea.

Ahn Hong-seok, a 22-year-old college student, said that if Trump "is a person capable of becoming a president, I think he should not distort the precious history of another country."

Many here assume that Xi fed that ahistorical nugget to Trump, who also admitted that after 10 minutes listening to Xi, he realized that Beijing's influence over North Korea was much less than he had thought.

Here's why Trump's comments strike a nerve in South Korea:

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WRONG, BUT WHOSE MISTAKE?

It's unclear whether Trump was quoting Xi or had misunderstood what he was told when he said Korea had been part of China.

It never was, historians outside of China say, although some ancient and medieval kingdoms that occupied the Korean Peninsula offered tributes to Chinese kingdoms to secure protection. And for a period during the 13th century, both China and Korea were under the rule of the Mongolian empire.

"Throughout the thousands of years of relations, Korea has never been part of China, and this is a historical fact that is recognized internationally and something no one can deny," Cho June-hyuck, a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Friday.

Asked whether Trump was quoting Xi, Lu Kang, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, didn't provide a direct answer, but said, "Korean people should not be worried about it."

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HISTORICAL FEUD

Trump stumbled into a long history dispute between the Asian neighbors; specifically, their views over the dominion of ancient kingdoms whose territories stretched from the Korean Peninsula to Manchuria.

South Koreans see these kingdoms as Korean, but China began to claim them as part of its national history in the early 1980s.

At the time, China's state historians were exploring ways to ideologically support Beijing's policies governing ethnic minorities, including the large communities of ethnic Koreans in the northeast, experts say.

In the early 2000s, a Chinese government-backed academic project produced a slew of studies arguing that the kingdom of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668) was a Chinese state. This infuriated South Korea, where nationalists glorify Goguryeo for its militarism and territorial expansion. Seoul launched its own government-backed research project on Goguryeo in 2007.

Some analysts say the argument is more political than historical as Goguryeo existed more than a thousand years before the foundation of modern states in Korea and China.

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'KOREA PASSING'

Several South Korean newspapers mentioned the Chinese claims over Goguryeo as they lashed out at Trump over the comments, and at Xi for allegedly feeding the U.S. president Chinese-centric views.

Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper, said China was looking to "tame" South Korea and weaken the traditional alliance between Seoul and Washington in an attempt to expand its regional influence.

Seoul has long worried about losing its voice in international efforts to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat — something local media have termed "Korea Passing." Seoul and Beijing are also bickering over plans to deploy in South Korea an advanced U.S. missile defense system that China sees as a security threat.

In the meantime, Trump has reportedly settled on a "maximum pressure and engagement" strategy on North Korea, which is mainly about enlisting the help of Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang.

"It's highly possible that China will try to solve the problems surrounding the Korean Peninsula based on a hegemonic stance that likens the Koreas to Chinese vassal states," said the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper on Thursday. "If Trump has agreed with this view, you will never know what kind of a deal the two global powers will make over the fate of the Korean Peninsula."

Insecurities about both China's and Trump's intentions in the region will be among the big issues as South Koreans vote next month for their next president.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Trump is trying to flame Chinese-Korean to hate each other, despite Korean share Chinese name and culture we don't twist their arm to become a Chinese...Trump is in deep trouble

 

[Jlaw]

Trump is correct with what he said. Why are Koreans angry? Now they are a vassal state of US. If CPC like leader have balls they would officially make the vassal statement and make SK angry at US.

Trump is trying to flame Chinese-Korean to hate each other, despite Korean share Chinese name and culture we don't twist their arm to become a Chinese...Trump is in deep trouble

Your logic make no sense. Koreans are protesting outside Chinese embassy asking for an apology to something trump said. Trump is smart.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Your logic make no sense. Koreans are protesting outside Chinese embassy asking for an apology to something trump said. Trump is smart.

Why China has to apologize?, a mother or father should apologize for their kid's wrong doing and Trump is not Chinese and less he's not longer a kid...LMAO

 

[T-123456]

Why China has to apologize?, a mother or father should apologize for their kid's wrong doing and Trump is not Chinese and less he's not longer a kid...LMAO

Are you sure,he looks Chinese?

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Are you sure,he looks Chinese?

I imagine rofl:

 

[Jlaw]

Why China has to apologize?, a mother or father should apologize for their kid's wrong doing and Trump is not Chinese and less he's not longer a kid...LMAO

From the article, it said Koreans were protesting outside Chinese embassy seeking an apology for something Trump said. It show Koreans will never blame US but a perceived weaker Chinese leader.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

From the article, it said Koreans were protesting outside Chinese embassy seeking an apology for something Trump said. It show Koreans will never blame US but a perceived weaker Chinese leader.

I wouldn't be worry, we're not the one to twist Trump's arm to force him to say that and less he's the president of USA and supposedly be more responsible for what he said and come out to apologize.

For us as Chinese crisis is equal mean opportunity, if Koreans are over-sensitive of what trump said and wrongfully push the blame on China, then this will only give credit for what Trump said...then we can claim what Trump said is the true which Korea was part of China

 

[Jlaw]

I wouldn't be worry, we're not the one to twist Trump's arm to force him to say that and less he's the president of USA and supposedly be more responsible for what he said and come out to apologize.

For us as Chinese crisis is equal mean opportunity, if Koreans are over-sensitive of what trump said and wrongfully push the blame on China, then this will only give credit for what Trump said...then we can claim what Trump said is the true which Korea was part of China

If China leaders are smart they would come out and say," Korea was part of China's territory and is known and agreed upon by world historians. President Xi did not say this during the Mar-Lago meeting. We do know modern Korea is now a vassal state of the USA." Put the ball back in Trump land. I doubt CPC will make a statement like that.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

If China leaders have some guts they would come out and say," Korea was part of China's territory and is known and agreed upon by world historians. Modern Korea is now a vassal state of the USA." Put the ball back in Trump land. I doubt CPC will make a statement like that.

Oh...man you're just too funny, I don't think Chinese leaders will say that even if their have the guts, this will totally humiliate Korean people and can only add fuel to the fire.

 

[52051]

To be honest, it seems that our dear trump want to play some amaterish level divide-and-conquer game between China and Korea, however since the two are not even close to be equal weighted, so his strategy fall apart here.

Althrough I am sure his comments will hit a huge nerve among koreans, just like most of the rest ppl ex-colony of Chinese empire, it is really a very highly sensitive topic to them.

 

[cnleio]

 

[powastick]

South Korean are idiots, why would China give North Korea to South Korea when they are vassals of USA.

 

[Oldman1]

To be honest, it seems that our dear trump want to play some amaterish level divide-and-conquer game between China and Korea, however since the two are not even close to be equal weighted, so his strategy fall apart here.

Althrough I am sure his comments will hit a huge nerve among koreans, just like most of the rest ppl ex-colony of Chinese empire, it is really a very highly sensitive topic to them.

He says alot of things. Like enraging Sweden about its problems. Was it a divide and conquer? I don't know. All we do know is that there is already division between China and South Korea over THAAD. And division between China and North Korea over its nuke weapons tests.

 

[ito]

It is beyond me how did Americans voted him as President