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Historically,North Korea's participation in international sporting events has been hindered by therelations with South Korea.[1] Until the 1990s, North Korea used to host up to 14 international events every year, albeit in small scale. Since the early 1990s, the amount was reduced to just one, the Paektusan Prize International Figure Skating Festival.[2] More recently, since the 2000s, North Korea both participates in and hosts more international competitions.[3]
In recent years, however, cooperation in sports has gotten better.[1] Since the early 2000s, North Korean athletes have openly worn sporting equipment with logos of foreign brands on them.[2] In 2017, North Korea complained to various international sporting associations thatsanctions against it imposed by theUnited States prevent it from buying professional sporting equipment.[4]
Marathon running in North Korea began in earnest in 1975 whenChoe Chang-sop won theKošice Peace Marathon inCzechoslovakia becoming the greatest athlete in North Korea at the time. ThePyongyang Marathon has been held in April since 1981, with some interruptions.[5] North Korea performs strongly in the women's marathon in international competitions.[6][7]Jong Song-ok's 1999 gold medal at thewomen's marathon at the Seville World Championships in Athletics remains the country's only athletics medal at a major competition.[6]
In 1965, thenational football team advanced to theFIFA World Cup held inEngland. After sixteen teams withdrew from qualifying in the Asian/African Zone, the North Korean team had a two-game series againstAustralia inPhnom Penh,Cambodia. The North Koreans won both games and qualified for the World Cup.
After losing 3-0 to theSoviet Union, and drawing withChile, the North Koreans defeatedItaly 1-0; the winning goal was scored byPak Doo-ik.
In the quarterfinal round, the North Koreans faced thePortugal national football team. The North Koreans scored three consecutive goals in the first 24 minutes. Portugal needed a four-goal effort byEusébio to pull out a 5-3 victory.
TheChollima[a] did not qualify for any further World Cup finals until they advanced to the2010 FIFA World Cup. Both Koreas qualified for the 2010 finals. Based on the group stage draw, the two Korean sides would not have been able to meet until at least the semi-finals of theknockout stage. The North Korean team failed to get past the group stage, finishing bottom of the group and losing all three matches.[9]
North Korea has domestic leagues for both men and women, and all games take place atKim Jong-Il Stadium inPyongyang. Traditionally major teams in the men's league includeApril 25,Pyongyang City, andRimyongsu Sports Club.
In September 2010, the first official friendly match between a domestic football team and a foreign club took place in the Kim Il-sung Stadium, featuring the German All Stars, an expatriate team from Singapore. The North Korean team won the two consecutive days matches (1-0 and 4-2).[8]
In 2018, the German All Stars returned to Pyongyang, taking part in 2 friendlies against DPRK Premier League team Hwaebul Sports Club. After a 7-0 drumming in the first game, GAS stepped into the Kim Il Sung Stadium, narrowly losing 4-2. Thomas Nock scored the first goal for the German side, before Fraser Tyler became the first Englishman to score in the DPRK, with a superb swerving strike from the left side of the area. Despite 2 defeats in under a week, the Germans clawed back some pride, defeating Hwaebul in a penalty shootout by 7 goals to 6.
Since 1993, thewomen's football team has seen more success on the international stage than the men's side, qualifying for the1999,2003,2007 and2011FIFA Women's World Cup. In 1999, the team defeatedDenmark during the group stage, and in 2003 defeated African championNigeria. The women's team has established itself as one of the strongest in Asia, winning the2001 and2003AFC Women's Asian Cups after finishing as the runner-up in1993 and1997.
In September 2010, theMiddlesbrough Ladies football team toured the country for a series of friendlies. They played two matches, unaware that they would be playing professional sides. They playedApril 25 Sports Club, losing 6-2, and Kalmaegi, losing 5-0. The visit gave Middlesbrough their largest ever attendance, with both matches attracting 6,000 people each, beating the previous record of 1,000 when they playedArsenal Ladies.[10]
North Korea is also active in basketball, witha national team that represents the nation in international competitions.
The current and previous leaders of DPR Korea were known for their fondness of basketball.Kim Jong-Il was said to have a video library of every gameMichael Jordan played, and was presented with a ball signed by Jordan byMadeleine Albright in 2000.[11] The following year, Jordan was formally invited to visit North Korea, which he declined.[12]
In December 2013, former American basketball professionalDennis Rodman visited North Korea to help train the national team after he developed a friendship with ChairmanKim Jong-un during his first visit to the country in February 2013.[13] Kim has met with the five-timeNBA champion andHall of Famer several times.[14]
Short track speed skating andfigure skating arewinter sports that North Korea performs well in.[15] Performance in theWinter Olympics has however remained modest, which is described as "surprising" given the mountainousgeography of North Korea.[16]
ThePaektusan Prize International Figure Skating Festival is hosted annually, a practice that continued even through the 1990s when hosting all other international sporting events was suspended.[2]
Hockey was introduced to North Korea by visiting Soviet and Chinese workers in the 1950s. Since then, North Koreans have competed in international events. Hockey is a popular pastime in the country.[17]
Success of the North Korean national ice hockey teams has been limited.[17] North Korea has amen's team that is ranked 45th out of 49[18] in theIIHF. A domestic ice hockey league began operations in 1955, the same year theIce Hockey Association of the DPR Korea was founded. Clubs are based in such cities asPyongyang,Kaesong,Kanggye andNampho.[19]
The women's team is ranked 26 out of 34[20] and competes in Division II.[citation needed]
North Korea has one golf course in use: thePyongyang Golf Complex.[21] The course is 18 holes and 20 miles from Pyongyang. In 2011 the firstDPRK Amateur Golf Open took place[22] and is now an annual event,[23] open to nationalities from all around the world.
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TheGrand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang[24] (Chosŏn'gŭl: 아리랑 축제,Hancha: 아리랑 祝祭), also known as the Arirang Mass Games,[25] or the Arirang Festival[26] is amass gymnastics and artistic festival held in theRungrado May Day Stadium inPyongyang,North Korea. The games usually take place in August and/or September.
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International Taekwondo Federation's 20th world championship was held in Pyongyang in 2017.[27]
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In 1995, a crew from defunct nationalprofessional wrestling promotionWorld Championship Wrestling, led by company Executive ProducerEric Bischoff and former World ChampionRic Flair among others, flew to Pyongyang via China to participate in an "International Peace Festival" co-organised by North Korea and Japanese politicianAntonio Inoki, himself a former professional wrestling icon. Over the course of two days, WCW played to an audience of 340,000, at Pyongyang May Day stadium, the largest ever audience for a professional wrestling show, with a main event on the final night of Inoki vs. Flair, with a guest appearance by boxing iconMuhammad Ali.
Matches from the two shows, as well as footage from inside Pyongyang and a mass gymnastic display, were released on pay-per-view and VHS some 17 months after the event, entitledCollision in Korea, and though the PPV performed dismally, pulling a 0.15, the VHS release has become something of a cult hit among longtime wrestling fans and North Korean culture enthusiasts, the atmosphere of the show being so radically different from American wrestling's usual bombast and pageantry.
TheNorth Korea national baseball team is the national baseball team ofNorth Korea. The team represents North Korea in international competitions. The team is organized by the Baseball and Softball Association of DPR Korea.[28]
North Korea's first Summer Olympics appearance on its own was in the1972 Summer Olympics inMunich, West Germany, taking home five medals, including one gold. Four years later, inMontreal, the nation took one gold and one silver inboxing, and four years after that it earned five medals in boxing,freestyle wrestling, andweightlifting inMoscow. In 1984, the nation joined theEastern bloc boycott of theLos Angeles Games, and four years later, boycotted the Games held inSeoul due to theSouth's unwillingness to co-host the event with the North. Despite a mostly unified Communist boycott in 1984,Cuba,Ethiopia,Madagascar,Nicaragua, andSeychelles joined the North Korean boycott in 1988.
The nation returned to Olympic competition in 1992 at theBarcelona Games, winning an unprecedented nine medals in Spain, four of them gold.
At theSydney Games in 2000,[29] and inAthens four years later, the North and South marched together in the opening and closing ceremonies under theUnification Flag, but competed separately. North Korea has medaled in every Summer Olympics they have participated in.
North Korean athletes have competed in severalWinter Olympics competitions as well, first competing at the1964 Winter Olympics inInnsbruck.Han Pil-Hwa took silver medal in the women's 3000 meters ofspeed skating at the game. Another North Korean Winter Olympic medal was a bronze in1992 at theAlbertville Games whenHwang Ok-Sil took third place in the women's 500 meters ofshort track speed skating. The North and South again marched under the Unification Flag at theTurin Games in 2006.
In October 2013, Kim Jong-un introduced a newpolicy that allows successful athletes to receive luxuryapartments in recognition for their achievements. The reward was given toOm Yun-chol,An Kum-ae andKim Un-guk, who earnedOlympic medals at the2012 Summer Olympics.[30]
North Korea has competed at theAsian Games since 1974. It ranked at the top five in1974,1978,1982, and1990.[31] In 2018, athletes from North and South combined to claim the first gold medal for a unified Korea at the Asian Games in a women's canoe race.[32]
Two English languagedocumentaries have been created by British filmmakerDaniel Gordon involving North Korean sport.
The2002 filmThe Game of Their Lives details the seven surviving members of the 1966 World Cup team.
The2004 filmA State of Mind follows two child gymnasts and their families as they prepare for the 2003 Arirang Festival.
The2012 filmAs One (Korean: 코리아;RR: Koria; lit. "Korea") is a cinematic retelling of the first ever post-warUnified Korea sports team which won the gold at the1991 World Table Tennis Championships inChiba, Japan, with actressBae Doona playing North Korea'sRi Bun-hui.
