Anchor: China is retorting North Korea’s claim that the Korean War broke out due to an invasion by the South. China’s state-run media and academics are saying that the Korean War occurred with the North making inroads into the South under the leadership of Kim Il-sung and with the backing of the former Soviet Union.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: A statement criticizing North Korea over the Korean War was posted on an official social networking service(SNS) account operated by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.  
 
The statement was posted in May when Beijing and Pyongyang traded angry words over the North’s sixth nuclear test.
 
The statement asked, "If North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung had not had the unification of the two Koreas in mind, would the Korean War have broken out?" The SNS post condemned the North for the war, saying that hundreds of thousands of Chinese died by becoming involved.
 
Although an SNS post, the People’s Daily statement blamed Pyongyang for provoking the Korean War for the first time. Previously, the newspaper had supported the North’s claim over the Korean War or had kept mum.
 
Shen Zhihua, known for his research on the Korean War, explained in detail in his latest book, which was released this month, how Kim Il-sung prepared for the Korean War with the blessing of Stalin.
 
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency had earlier reported in an exclusive story marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War in 2010 that North Korean soldiers crossed the 38th parallel, attacked the South and took control of Seoul after three days.
 
Although China had supported the North during the Korean War, the fact that the North was the instigator is increasingly becoming the widely accepted notion.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.

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