North Korean table tennis hero Ri Bun Hui (48), once half of the unified Korea team that won the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, is now stationed in China as the general-secretary of the Chosun [North Korea] Sports Federation for the Disabled. However, it now appears that this successful athlete has transformed herself into a foreign-currency earning specialist.
A source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on August 10, “Ri Bun Hui got famous by playing table tennis, but now she is focusing her attention on earning foreign currency by trading foreign cosmetics. Since entering the Kim Jong Un era, the Chosun Sports Federation’s trading certificate (which permits the committee to engage in international trade) has gone up in value. As a result, Ri Bun Hui plunged into the sector.”
The source continued, “Ri Bun Hui was appointed general-secretary of the Chosun Sports Federation for the Disabled last year. Although she resides in Shenyang, China, she is spending more time going back and forth between Pyongyang than she is in China, selling cosmetics and equipment to Pyongyang companies as a way to raise money for international sporting exchanges and to support her personal lifestyle.”
Sources in Pyongyang confirmed this news.
Designated as a national hero and an official state athlete, Ri Bun Hui has name recognition and a natural advantage over the competition in the trade market. And she is not alone in this practice, another renowned athlete has also been in the foreign-currency earning business for quite a while now: international marathon competitor Jong Song Ok, now a cadre and serving as the general-secretary of the Athletic Commission, a position he uses to gain access to the trade market.
Kim Jong Un’s emphasis on strengthening North Korea’s athletic programs comes with preferential treatment for its athletes. The amount of winning athletes awarded with enviable apartments, cars, and national honors has increased in recent years, but, of course, the awards are commensurate with the prestige and number of medals that the athlete has taken home. Of particular note, the authorities have been providing their athletes with imported foreign foods.
What’s more, the selection process used to determine the nation’s representative athletes still prioritizes songbun [political loyalty and family history] over athletic prowess, and the policy of reserving preferential treatment to champion athletes is being continued. Further, because the country’s finances are in such a poor state, winners are only afforded a measly allowance of 3500 KPW (US $0.43) per month–not even enough to buy a single kg of rice in the marketplace.
“The athletes are provided with food during their training process, but if it turns out that they are unable to compete at the competition they are treated like persona non grata. Plenty of ‘hero certificates’ and ‘national representative badges’ are handed out, but they are not given enough money to live on. That’s why former athletes are entering the trade and market selling business,” the source explained.
“In this world, if you have money, you can more or less work things out. That means that athletes who sweat blood to prepare for their competitions are not as highly regarded as successful merchants. Anyone can buy a medal or certificate; what’s the point of expending so much energy in something like table tennis? Athletes are not alone in this. Movie actors are also secretly involved in trade operations.”
