Koreas to play goodwill basketball games possibly in front of Kim Jong-un
A delegation of South Korean officials and athletes wave at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Tuesday, before flying to North Korea for inter-Korean basketball friendly games. / Joint Press Corps
Joint Press Corps
By Kim Bo-eun, Pyongyang Joint Press Corps
South and North Korean men’s and women’s basket ball teams will play goodwill matches today and Thursday in Pyongyang, possibly with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un attending.
The “Unification Basketball Competition” is the fourth of its kind and is being held for the first time in 15 years since the last games were played in 2003. The Koreas agreed to schedule the event at a meeting on sports cooperation last month.
A 101 member delegation departed for Pyongyang Tuesday, led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon. The delegation includes 50 basketball players, government officials, reporters and a broadcasting team.
“The PyeongChang Winter Olympics became the foundation of peace on the Korean Peninsula, so I hope that the Pyongyang unification basketball competition serves as an occasion to further develop peace on the peninsula,” Cho told reporters before departure.
The delegation headed to Pyongyang Sunan International Airport from Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, via an air force transport aircraft, given international sanctions on North Korea.
This is the first time for the unification minister to visit Pyongyang in 11 years. His last visit was in 2007 as a presidential secretary.
During the visit, Cho is expected to meet with his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon and other officials for discussions on carrying out the Panmunjeom Declaration reached at the inter-Korean summit on April 27.
The basketball competition was arranged to take place around July 4, because this is the date that the Koreas signed a joint statement in 1972, to hold dialogue and make efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The North and South will play four games during the two-day event. On Wednesday, players of both sides will form joint teams. On Thursday, matches will take place between the North and South. However, the teams will not be labeled North and South but Red and Blue. No national flags or anthems will be incorporated into the event.
It remains to be seen whether Kim Jong-un, who is known as a great basketball fan, will attend the games.
“Although we are divided, it will be good if we can become one through sports, or if we make a good team,” Hur Jae, a basketball coach, and former player who took part in the inter-Korean competition 15 years ago.
“It is a different feeling to go as a coach 15 years later and I look forward to finding out how the North Korean players have changed,” he said.
President of the Korea Basketball Association, Pang Yul, said “Because the Asian Games are just around the corner, we will focus on determining the levels of the individual players on the women’s and men’s basketball teams in drawing up joint teams for the Games.”
“This event is called the Unification Basketball Competition so we are departing with thoughts of how to make this an annual event that can contribute to unification,” he said.
Meanwhile, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting Pyongyang from Thursday through Saturday, questions are arising over whether Cho and Pompeo will meet.