hankyoreh

2003 in advance of their performance at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu. (by Lee Jong-keun

When the North Korean cheerleading squad emerged from South Korea’s customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) office at Dorasan, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of Feb. 7, South Korean reporters asked the cheerleaders what kind of routines they had prepared. A woman who appeared to be the leader of the squad was ready with a clever response: “You’ll have to wait and see. It wouldn’t be any fun to spoil the surprise!”

The cheerleaders were the first to greet the South Korean reporters, saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” and when the cheerleaders were asked whether they had all come from Pyongyang, they nodded their heads and said, “It took us about two or three hours to get here from Pyongyang.”

On Feb. 7, the North Korean cheerleading squad, Taekwondo demonstration team and pool of reporters who will be participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics arrived in South Korea via the Gyeongui Line overland route. It has been 12 years and six months since a North Korean cheerleading squad last visited South Korea to participate in a sporting event held there, the previous time being the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon.

While so much has changed in the intervening time, one thing that remains the same from more than a decade before was the smile of the cheerleaders as they stepped foot on South Korean soil and confidently said, “We’re here to bring about unification.”

staff photographer)

The North Korean contingent crossed the military demarcation line into South Korea at 9:26 am. The 280 members of the contingent included Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Kim Il-guk and three other members of North Korea’s National Olympic Committee, 229 cheerleaders, 26 members of a Taekwondo demonstration team and 21 reporters. The contingent reached the CIQ office at Dorasan at 9:28 am, began crossing the border at 10:06 am and started to emerge from the southern exit at 10:09 am.

When asked about how it felt to visit South Korea, Kim Il-guk said, “Let’s all work together to do a good job at the games [the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics].”

“I’m glad that the Winter Olympics are being successfully held through the cooperation of North and South Korea,” added Kim Myong-chol, a member of North Korea’s National Olympic Committee. “I hope that the North and South Korean athletes will get good results during the games”

At 10:15 am, the vanguard of the North Korean cheerleading squad made its appearance. Pulling purple suitcases behind them, the cheerleaders said, “Nice to meet you” while smiling cheerfully. The cheerleaders were wearing black fur hats and red coats, like the North Korean musical performance group that reached South Korea through Mukho Harbor on the Mangyongbong 92 the day before, but unlike the musicians, the cheerleaders also had a pin of the North Korean flag on their left breast.

When one of the South Korean reporters on the scene asked the cheerleaders’ age, they each had different answers. One said she was twenty-five, while another said, “There’s a wide range of ages.” One laughing cheerleader said, “Our cheering will be full of energy and spirit,” while another woman, asked to share her thoughts about visiting South Korea, said, “We’re here to bring about unification. We’re ready to work as a team in our cheering.”

After clearing customs, the cheerleading squad boarded vehicles arranged by the South Korean government and headed to their accommodations, the Speedium Hotel in Inje County, Gangwon Province, which they reached at 3:30 pm.

Members of a North Korean cheerleading squad arrive at Gimhae International Airport on Aug. 20

The first time that a North Korean cheerleading squad visited South Korea was the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. From the moment they arrived in Busan’s Dadaepo Harbor on the Mangyongbong 92 ship on Sept. 28, before the games’ opening ceremony, they were the talk of the town. More than 2,000 South Korean well-wishers had gathered at the harbor and welcomed them under the Unification Flag, while more than 280 North Korean cheerleaders, wearing variously colored hanbok (traditional Korean attire), smiled broadly and waved at them.

As soon as the ship reached the dock, a North Korean brass band, complete with drummers and fife players, played the North Korean song “Pangapsumnida” (“Nice to Meet You”), while the South Korean crowd responded by shouting the slogan, “The unified fatherland.” During an interview with the Hankyoreh at the closing ceremony of those Asian Games, one of the cheerleaders said, “We appreciate the compliments about our beauty, but we would rather you see us as envoys to South Korea for unification than as beautiful women.”

All of the cheerleading squad members visiting South Korea since the Asian Games in Busan have arrived via air. On Aug. 20, 2013, the day before the opening ceremony for that year’s Summer Universiade in Daegu, a squad of 303 North Korean cheerleaders arrived at Gimpo Airport on an Air Koryo flight. They were dressed in modified traditional Korean hanbok garments with white jackets and black skirts, a North Korean flag pinned to the left side of their chest. The members smiled warmly as they greeted the crowds who arrived at the airport to welcome them.

When the South and North Korean athletes made their joint entrance at the opening ceremony event the following day, the cheerleaders waved Korean Peninsula flags and shouted slogans of “Unify the fatherland!” and “We are one!”

The cheerleading squad members visiting the 2005 Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon consisted of around 120 students affiliated with North Korea’s youth and student cooperation team. Arriving at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 31 via Air Koryo a day before the opening ceremony, they wore modified hanbok outfits, with red badges pinned to the left side of their chest showing the face of Kim Il-sung.

In addition to their cheerleading, the squad, which also included around ten male students, staged special performances for Incheon residents over a three-day period. The visit later came to renewed attention when it was belatedly learned that Kim Jong-un’s wife Ri Sol-ju had visited as a member of the youth and student cooperation team at the time.

2005 in advance of their performance at the 2005 Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon. (Photo Archive)

After arriving at the South Korean port of Mukho on Feb. 6 on board the Mangyongbong ferry, the North Korean performers held their first rehearsal on Feb. 7 ahead of their Gangneung performance. Five large buses carrying the performers set off from Mukho at around 8:30 am that day and arrived at Gangneung Culture and Art Center at around 9:20 am. After finishing their rehearsal, the performers returned to the Mangyongbong for lunch, and then came back to Gangneung for their afternoon rehearsal.

This year’s Olympic event is expected to be an occasion for true Korean unity, with the North Korean cheerleaders joined by ethnic Koreans visiting from all over the world. A cheering squad from the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) is scheduled to arrive in South Korea before the Feb. 9 opening ceremony. A portion of them were expected to arrive at Incheon Airport on the morning of Feb. 8, with dozens more to arrive at Gimpo in the afternoon from Tokyo, Osaka, and other parts of Japan. Ethnic Koreans living in the US and Europe were also expected to arrive between Feb. 8 and 9.

Members of a North Korean cheerleading squad wave the Unification Flag as they arrive at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 31

By Hwang Keum-bi and Noh Ji-won, staff reporters