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| Figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik of North Korea practice their routine during a training session at the main Olympic ice rink in Gangneung, South Korea, Sunday. |
By Do Je-hae
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The pair is unlikely to medal in PyeongChang but have been making a splash in the media. The local press has been hounding them during the practice sessions and will surely focus on them on the day of the pairs competitions Feb. 14-15. When the North Korean athletes arrived at the athletes' village, the reporters could not take their eyes off Ryom. Unlike her stone-faced teammates, the 19-year-old's friendly smile left a strong impression on the South Korean public.
In this Olympic season, they have been skating to the North Korean song "Pangapsumnida," meaning "nice to meet you" in their exhibition program. The well-known tune is about joy, hugs and tears during a reunion of the peoples of the two Koreas. The song fits the mood for the "Peace Olympics" the Moon Jae-in administration has tried to create by getting the North to participate at the last minute in Korea's first Winter Olympics.
Most recently, they performed this routine at a gala after winning a bronze medal at the Four Continents Championships in Taiwan, an International Skating Union (ISU) event, last month. They are expected to repeat the routine at the gala after competing in PyeongChang.
The selection of this song was probably intended to please South Koreans and make a good impression with the international community by promoting their country as peace-loving and friendly. For some South Koreans, lyrics like "the day we celebrate unification with a party is not far away," stir up strong emotions about a country that shares a culture and history, but remains divided.
Since the retirement of the 2010 Olympic champion Kim Yuna, few skaters from the Korean Peninsula have attracted as much international media attention as Ryom and Kim. They are the first skaters from North Korea to win a medal at an ISU competition.
Technically and artistically, they are far above any pair South Korea has produced. A New York Times article published Jan. 11 described them as possessing "some of the dynamism seen in Chinese pairs and also some of the classic, balletic style of Russian skaters." They worked with Bruno Marcotte, a pairs coach, in Montreal last summer. In an interview with the Cosmopolitan, Marcotte lauded them as a "crowd favorite," saying "they have a lot of charisma on the ice."
Ryom in particular is a great addition to pairs skating, which has been losing some of its beauty since the Chinese started to lead the sport with a focus on technique after the 2010 Olympics, ending Russia's long dominance.
In the previous season, the North Korean pair skated their long program to the "pas de deux" from "Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky. The tune was also used in the 1992 routine of the Russian pair Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, the silver medalists in Albertville.
Normally, North Korean skaters skate to propaganda music about the ruling Kim dynasty, so their choice of music sets them apart from others in their country. This season, the duo is skating to music by the Beatles and a chanson by a Canadian singer. Not only are they able to perform to the music, they are also great technicians. Their throw jumps and twists, the combination spins and lifts are almost on par with those of world-class pairs.
There isn't much information about them on the internet, except a short video on YouTube filmed a few years ago, containing footage from their training and interviews with them and their coach. It provides a rare glimpse into the lives of the North Korean figure skaters. The skaters talk about how they encourage each other to be better competitors and thank their teammates and coach for their support. At the end, the diminutive Ryom, then 16 years old, talked about her country's leader Kim Jong-un and how she wants to win more medals in international competitions to make him happy.
For South Koreans, such remarks are alienating and reminded them of the reality of the two countries. But during PyeongChang 2018, Ryom and Kim, in addition to their teammates, are honorable Olympians.
There has been much criticism toward Moon's "Peace Olympics" efforts domestically, but after a long absence of cultural and sports exchanges, many South Koreans also want to say "nice to meet you" to the North Korean Olympic delegation.
