The North Korean authorities have embarked
on the task of selecting the country’s “cheering squad” for the upcoming 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
A source from North Pyongan Province told
Daily NK on the 11th, “Right now the only thing people are talking
about here is the ‘Asian Athletics Competition’ being held in South Korea. The
selection process began immediately after the official announcement on the 7th,
and all of Pyongyang is focusing on it.”
This year marks the fourth such dispatch of
a cheering squad to South Korea. In 2002 a squad of 288 was dispatched
to the 14th Asian Games in the southern port city of Busan; the 2003
Daegu Universiade saw a group of 303 arrive to support the North Korean team,
and in 2005 a group of 124 visited the South for the 16th Asian
Athletics Championships, also held in Incheon.
Famously, one member of the 2005 cheering
squad was none other than Ri Sol Ju, the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong
Eun. Ri was then a student at Geumseong Hakwon, a specialized cultural arts school in the North Korean capital,
Pyongyang.
According to sources, in 2002, the first
time that the process of selecting a cheering squad was attempted, the Party
Organization and Guidance Department’s personnel section dealt with the
organizational element, while the Central Party bureau that deals with youth
activities took
responsibility for the practicalities.
Recruitment was restricted to females in
their 20s who were then active in the cultural arts sector in Pyongyang,
including students from the aforementioned Geumseong Hakwon, as well as Pyongyang
University of Music and Dance.
In addition to the precondition of good songbun
[political background and loyalty], candidates had to be taller than 160cm and
able to pass the state’s physical checks. Additionally, all candidates had to
pass checks conducted by the state intelligence agency, the Department of State
Security, which ensured there were no defectors or other impure elements in their extended families.
The selection process was followed by a
period of education in Pyongyang, during which the cheering squad was instructed on how to
act, what to say, and what obligations accrued to a representative of North
Korea in the South. At this time, they stayed in the city’s
Changgwangsan Hotel.
Meanwhile, the squad’s inner and
outerwear, bags etc. were imported from abroad, while their shoes and sneakers
were produced by a factory in the Pyongcheon district of Pyongyang. All essential goods were distributed to the members two weeks prior to departure for Incheon.
The source alleged the presence of a further factor. “Appearance and songbun were important, but the most important thing was a
candidate’s human network,” he said. “It would have been wildly
implausible for someone without a link to the personnel section of the Central
Party to get selected, no matter how good their songbun or appearance may have
been.”
“Everyone wants to go abroad, of course,
but different countries have different ‘rankings’,” he explained. “Going to
China is like going to ‘the countryside,’ while going to South Korea is like
going to ‘the land of stars’. So the price for it is higher. Parents wanted to
get their children on the cheering squad even if it meant that they had to pay
bribes to do it.”
Finally, “The authorities are strengthening their
tools of control to try and halt the popularity of the ‘Korean Wave,’ but it’s
a historical trend that cannot be evaded,” the source went on. He added that local
people think that dispatching a team of athletes and a cheering squad to the Asian
Games means that, in the end, the authorities are going to have to accept the reality of South
Korean cultural influence at home.
