With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

1964 Sino-N.K. border protocol backs Korean claim

Official Chinese government material has come to light confirming the Korean argument that a "Tomun River" designated as the border between China and Korea is not the Tumen River, which forms the current border, but another stream.

China argues the Tomun River mentioned on the Mt. Paekdu Border Stone Monument erected in 1712 to delineate the border between the Korean Chosun (also spelled as Joseon) kingdom and Qing Dynasty China and the Tumen River are one and the same.

But Park Seon-young, a historian at Pohang University of Science and Technology, said Thursday he found a 1964 protocol on the Sino-North Korean border signed by North Korean leader Kim Il-sung and Chinese premier Zhou Enlai that contains concrete articles on the border, and draws a clear distinction between the Tomun and Tumen rivers.

Read entire article at Chosunilbo