Ex-NBA player Yao Ming leads China delegation for match in North Korea
Chinese and North Korean basketball players held a friendly match on Oct. 9 in Pyongyang. Yonhap
By Lee Min-young
North Korean and Chinese female basketball players have held a friendly match as part of their bilateral sports exchanges.
China's Yao Ming, the former Houston Rockets center and eight-time NBA all-star, arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with a high-level delegation to preside over a friendly match between Chinese and North Korean female basketball players on Tuesday.
China's basketball legend Yao Ming in Pyongyang. Yonhap
Yao Ming shakes hands with North Korean officials. Yonhap
Yao Ming is the head of China's Basketball Association.
The delegation also included Gou Zhongwen, the director of China's General Administration of Sports, the equivalent of China's sport minister.
North Korean and Chinese players formed teams named "Unity" and "Friendship." The Unity team won 107 to 106. At the end of the game, Yao Ming congratulated the players.
The friendly match between North Korean and Chinese players. Yonhap
North Koreans watch the game held in Pyongyang. Yonhap
The match is known to have been held at North Korea's invitation. North Korea's senior ruling party officials were present to watch, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not seen.
China's state-run Global Times hailed the event as a display of Kim's will to forge stronger ties with Beijing through sports diplomacy.
Kim has visited China three times this year, ending a period of rocky relations between the longtime allies after China backed sanctions against the regime over its nuclear and missile programs.