hankyoreh

Mar. 6. (pool photo)

“We received a lot of inquiries from North Korean refugees who resettled in the South during the Korean War. They talked about how we need to hurry and organize more reunions for families divided by the Korean War,” said Lee Seo-gyeong, president of the Wonju Citizens’ Alliance, who met a Hankyoreh reporter at the Gangneung Hockey Center on the evening of Apr. 6.

Lee hoped that the game between the North and South Korean women’s hockey teams would offer a chance to break the deadlock in inter-Korean relations. Lee organized a joint cheering group for the North Korean team, which was competing in a game in Group A, Division 2, of the 2017 World Championships of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

“We received a lot of inquiries about the cheering group from North Koreans who resettled in Gangwon Province,” Lee said. “The only thing those people are interested in is the reunions of the divided families, and they hope that this game will help relieve the strain in inter-Korean relations.”

More than a thousand members were on the joint cheering team, carrying flags and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the light blue Korean Unification Flag and chanting slogans such as “Korean unification” and “We are one.”

“Companies must not be harmed because of politics. Inter-Korean relations are completely stopped up, but I hope that sports exchange will prime the pump,” said Chung Ki-sup, chairman of the Corporate Association of Kaesong Industrial Complex, who also attended the game.

“Currently, half of the total companies at the Kaesong Complex still want the complex to be reopened. It’s a very difficult situation,” he said. Residents of northern Gangwon Province on the border with North Korea who suffered economic difficulties because of the suspension of tourism to Mt. Keumgang were also reportedly interested in the game.

The South and North Korean women’s soccer teams shake hands after playing to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup Qualifier and Asian Cup at Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang

IIHF President René Fasel took a commemorative photograph with athletes from North and South Korea on Apr. 6. In order to commemorate the UN’s International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (Apr. 6), Fasel distributed postcards containing the words “peace and sports” to all the athletes. As the disheartened North Korean athletes bowed to the crowd after being trounced 0 to 3, the 6,000 or so people in the stands gave them a big round of applause – no doubt because the North Korean hockey players were their countrywomen.

There are some who think that North Korea uses sports as a political tool. But even in the middle of war, combatants still engage in dialogue. This is how Lee Chang-bok put it: “As the athletes from North and South Korea skate together, bumping into each other and falling down, they will probably feel the affinity of being members of the same nation. I hope that the gap in inter-Korean relations that has appeared over the past eight or nine years can be bridged through sports. I hope that our warmhearted feelings will be communicated to the North Korean athletes.” Lee, who is the South Korea Chair of the All Korean Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration, has dedicated his entire life to the cause of unification.

The only way to increase understanding is for the two sides to visit each other. The potential of sports in the private sector was felt during the hockey game between the North and South Korean teams.

By Kim Chang-keum, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]