This file picture shows North Korean delegation members waving the national North Korean flag during the men’s football match between North Korea and China in Incheon.
Few delegations at the 17th Asian Games, due to start today in Incheon, South Korea, are likely to attract more attention than North Korea but athletes from the reclusive state are focussed only on sport.
The group 150 athletes are aiming to maintain a tradition of strong performance by their country at the competition, which boasted an excellent record of top 10 finishes in the medal table every time it entered from 1974-2002 (it did not take part in 1986 or 1994). And though the country slipped to 16th in 2006 and 12th in 2010, a number of high-performing Olympic athletes have raised hopes of a stronger result in this edition.
The North is represented in 14 of the 36 sports on show at the Games with football, wrestling and weightlifting offering good opportunities for medals.
Both the men’s and women’s football teams have already made winning starts in preliminary games which began in the week before Friday’s opening ceremony.
Mai Duc Chung, the Vietnamese women’s football team head coach, praised the North Koreans after they dismantled his team 5-0. “I’m very much impressed by their good physical condition and the skills of handling long passes,” Mai Duc said of the 2010 Asian Games silver medallists.
The men’s team started with a 3-0 defeat of China and though the players did not talk to the media, coach Yun Jong Su emphasized their focus was on the tournament overall rather than a potential clash with South Korea.
“As we come here to clinch the gold, winning in the final is our clear destination and I think there is no special rival, so we will only do our best at every stage,” Yun said. “There is no burden (in facing South Korea) because our only hope is to win every game and if we meet South Korea, we’ll show excellent playing performances.”
In men’s weightlifting, 2012 Olympic gold medallists Kim Un Guk (62kg class) and Om Yun Chol (56kg) are both world record holders who will believe they can win again. For the women, reigning Olympic champion Rim Jong Sim is in the 69kg category.
Wrestler Yang Kyong Il was a 2012 Olympic bronze medallist but despite winning the recent world championship, he was replaced in the Asian Games squad by the highly-rated Jong Hak Jin in the 57kg freestyle. Greco-roman wrestler Yun Won Chol won the 2013 world championship at 55kg and is now aiming for Asian gold in the 59kg section.
Gymnastics vaulter Ri Se Gwang will hope to regain the Asian Games gold he won in 2006 but may lose out to South Korea’s Olympic champion, and 2010 Asian gold winner, Yang Hak Seon.
Other contenders include the table tennis mixed doubles pairing Kim Hyok Bong and Kim Jong, current world champions, and judoist Sol Kyong who won the 2013 women’s 78kg world title.
‘Gangnam Style’ welcome met by ‘Pyongyang Style’ silence
North Korea were welcomed to the Asian Games yesterday to the strains of “Gangnam Style”, their athletes and officials gave a polite smile but put up a wall of stony silence in return.
North Korean athletes looked on blankly as breakdancers performed to the international hit by South Korean star Psy.
Their Singaporean, Chinese, Thai and Yemeni counterparts smiled and took pictures as dancers spun to the tune that has inspired more than two billion YouTube views.
Only one North Korean woman dared the slightest handclap.
In contrast, the North Korean delegation belted out the words to their national anthem, “Aegukga”, or Patriotic Song, as the isolated state’s flag was hoisted in the athletes village along with those of the other new arrivals.
It was a unique occasion as normally anyone waving the North’s flag or singing “Aegukga” in South Korea could face arrest under Seoul’s strict national security law.
North Korea’s presence has been one of the main talking points ahead of the Asian Games, which officially open in Incheon today.
Their athletes and officials, mobbed by journalists at the flag-raising ceremony, appeared to be under instruction to stay tight-lipped. A couple of burly minders were on hand to fend off persistent reporters.
