Marine wins national snowboard championships

Hong Seung-young, a Marine Corps lance corporal, poses with medals and certificates of awards presented to him after winning two national snowboard championship titles in January. Courtesy of Marine Corps

By Yi Whan-woo

A marine who is on a mission to protect the country's northwestern maritime border against North Korea won two national snowboard championship titles, according to the Marine Corps, Wednesday.

It said Hong Seung-young, 20, a lance corporal of the sixth Marine Brigade stationed on Socheong Island, won parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom events at a national championship hosted by the Korea Ski Association in January.

The Marine Corps said Hong's achievement is noteworthy considering the island is unfavorable for practicing winter sports.

The small border island in the West Sea is 2.91 square kilometers in size, has only 85 households, and could be the first to come under attack by North Korea along with the two nearby Baekryeong and Daecheong islands.

Hong trained “consistently” after joining the Marine Corps as a conscript last year.

The Marine Corps said Hong, a K3 5.56 millimeter machine gunner, is “a fine example” who faithfully fulfills his duty and works on self-improvement at the same time.

“Hong's achievement is partly attributed to our SSEN project aimed at building physical fitness and boosting morale as well as our campaign aimed at reforming the culture of barracks life,” the Marine Corps said.

Hong said his next goal is to become a national team member.

“The Marine Corps spirit and barracks life encourage dreams and hopes, driving me to where I am now,” he was quoted as saying by the Marine Corps. “I will continue to take pride as a marine and strive for a bigger dream.”

Hong is a native of PyeongChang, host of last year's Winter Olympics.

He started snowboarding when he was in primary school. He excelled in snowboard competitions and has dreamed of joining the national team since then.

Before joining the Marine Corps, he was a kinesiology major at Yeungnam University in North Gyeongsang Province.

He joined the Marine Corps because, according to him, the Marine Corps spirit of making the impossible possible is similar to athletes' spirit and that being a marine would be “a great asset” in his pursuit of a place to represent Korea in sports internationally.