The first 94 members of North Korea’s athletes participating
in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games arrived in the South last Thursday afternoon on
Air Koryo flight TU-204.
The men’s soccer team kicks off the country’s first match on
Monday 5PM at the Incheon football stadium, playing against China. Following
this, the remaining 273 athletes from the North will arrive in the South to
compete in various matches through October 4th.
North Korea first competed in the 7th Asian Games held in
Tehran in 1974. Since then, it has taken part in the 1978 Bangkok Games, 1982
New Delhi, 1990 Beijing, 1998 Bangkok, 2002 Busan, 2006 Doha, and 2010 Asian
Games in Guangzhou. During these times, it has presented the world with a
number of unexpected, or rather controversial moves.
During its first participation in the Games in 1974, North
Korea’s weightlifting champion, Kim Jong Il, who snatched three medals, later
tested positive in a doping test. He was stripped from his rights to compete
and lost all medals. These became the first medals to be stripped from an
athlete at the Asian Games due to doping.
Pyongyang strongly denied the results and refused to
concede. In the end, North Korea fell behind South Korea in overall performance
and finished fifth.
In the next 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, it was a North Korean
assistant umpire, not an athlete, who made headlines. During a basketball game
between Japan and Malaysia, the North’s assistant umpire, Lah Bok Man, refused
to take his post, saying he would not work with South Korea’s Lee Jae Deok,
appointed as umpire for the match. The problem was only resolved after a Thai
assistant umpire replaced Lah.
North Korea also made news when its football team assaulted
an umpire during the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, after its team lost in the
semi-finals to Kuwait, three to two. Its cheering squad also broke loose into
the field, creating mayhem. As a result, the national team was slapped with a
heavy penalty from The Asian Football Confederation–a two-year ban from
participating in international games.
The country has also used the Games as a political tool. In
1986, when South Korea first hosted the Asian Games, Pyongyang announced it
would boycott the Games. Other countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, South
Yemen, Syria, and Cambodia also followed suit. During the 1994 Hiroshima Games,
North Korea pulled out, saying it was because Tokyo had demanded athletes from
the communist country to receive visas.
In 2002, during the administration of South Korea’s
President Kim Dae Jung, known for his policy of engagement with Pyongyang,
North Korea took a proactive stance in competing in the Asian Games held in the
southern port city of Busan. Pyongyang sent a delegation of 316 [including 184
athletes] to compete in 18 events and a cheering squad of 280. This marked the
first time the North took part in an international event hosted in the South
since the two countries were divided.
A number of puzzling incidents arose with North Korea’s
participation in the Busan Games. For example, the South’s Shooting Federation
provided the North’s athletes with some 50,000 rounds of practice ammunition.
The team was later caught at customs trying to depart the country with some
40,000 unused rounds. Seoul was also asked to fill up the tanks of North Korea’s
ferry, Mangyongbong, on which its delegation arrived. Pyongyang claimed it did
not have enough fuel to sail back to Wonsan, Gangwon Province, in the North.
Due to the North’s track record at the Asian Games, there is
concern that Pyongyang may pull another ‘stunt’ in Incheon. Especially with Kim
Jong Eun’s obsession to preserve his utmost command, there could be clashes
with conservative groups in South Korea wanting to use this opportunity to
denounce his leadership.
An analyst on North Korea told the Daily NK, “North Korea
may have matured over time, having taken part in multiple international sports
events, but when it comes to [preserving] its leadership, it may not hold back
from rash actions.”
“Since it’s a sports exchange, people [in the South] need to
also show a level respect,” the analyst went on. “If North Korea does carry out
such ‘acts of provocation,’ the South needs to respond according to
international rules and regulations, while keeping in mind the unique situation
of two Koreas.”
