Examples of Distortions
Taiwan:
¡°Signification of Koreans was relatively common because most Koreans were
Chinese in origin.¡± (Senior High School, History (2), National Institute
for Compilation and Chinese Translation, 1994.)
The Philippines:
¡°People; Koreans are, like the Chinese and the Japanese, Mongoloids. People in
the northern part of Korea are descendents of the Mongols and are generally
tall, fair skinned and have a deep tone of voice. The people in the southern
region are from a mixed heritage of Malaysians and Koreans, and they are
generally smaller and have darker skin tones. (Secondary School history, The
History of Asian Countries, Publication and Trading Co.,
1994.)
Comment
People
of the world belong to one of the three general categories of races: Caucasoid,
Mongoloid or Negroid. Koreans belong to the Mongoloid race. The Mongoloid race
is known to have originated near the Baikal Lake in Siberia. Mongoloid
characteristics include high cheekbones and inner eyelids which are well suited
for living in cold and harsh conditions such as in Siberia. Mongoloid can be
further categorized as the Old Mongol or the New Mongol which differ in physical
characteristics and language. The time when the two Mongols divided into
different groups is still not known; however, the two groups have divided even
further into many different groups. Koreans belong to the New Mongol which is
composed of the Ugrians, the Finns, the Turks, the Mongols, and the Tungus. The
New Mongols are also divided into the Ural language family and the Altai
language family. Korean belongs to the Altai language
family.
Koreans settled
in Manchuria (present-day northeastern China) and the Korean Peninsula as a
homogeneous people. That Korean myths and local religions have their origin in
the shamanism of the Siberian region supports this view. The underlying culture
of Korea has the same roots as the cultures of the Siberian region because the
origin of Korean people and their lineage are very closely linked with the
people of the Siberian region. Therefore, claims that Koreans are descendants of
the Chinese due to the geographical and cultural closeness between Korea and
China or that the people in the northern half of the peninsula are Mongols while
the people of the southern half are Malaysians are false and are not based on
any substantiated facts.
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