[imText1]It is well known in North Korea that boxer Kim Deuk Goo died in a lightweight championship bout with American Raymond, “Boom Boom,” Mancini on November 14, 1982. However, the circumstances of his death have been falsely portrayed to suggest that the fight referee sanctioned the murder by Mancini in a scheme plotted by an American capitalist in order to obtain a healthy body from which to harvest organs the capitalist expected to need. Any North Korean over 30 has heard this creepy tale of the poor South Korean boxer.
People in other countries, including South Korea, cannot understand how this ridiculous story can be perceived as fact. They say that only extreme-rightists and conservatives consider North Korea this evil and that no sane person would believe such a story. However, North Korean brain washing techniques are not commonly understood in South Korea.
North Korean propaganda authorities claimed that the death of Kim Deuk Goo was evidence of American condescension towards its puppet government in South Korea. The authority published books, magazines, and cartoons about the boxer’s death to illustrate the brutality endured by American citizens. All North Koreans have been exposed to the story of the poor young boxer from South Korea who went to the U.S. to earn money and was killed. Supposedly, Mancini punched Kim with gloves laced with mortal weapons and the referee was aware of it.
Another North Korean boxing story involved Ku Young Jo, a North Korean boxing hero and a gold medalist at the Montreal Olympic in 1976. He participated in the 1980 Olympics and created a commotion when he hit a referee with whose decision he did not agree. North Korean authority praised his bold action, and considered it to be a stinging rebuke to America on an international stage. When Ku got back to North Korea, he was awarded the title of “Hero of the Republic.”
North Korean political education includes the comparison of Kim Deuk Good and Ku Young Jo as an example of American unfairness in which weak colonial youth are lethally exploited without resistance.
