North Korean coach rebukes medal-winning weightlifters despite Asian Games golds

Members of the North Korean national weightlifting team, who swept 10 medals, including seven golds, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, were publicly reprimanded inside the venue by a top-ranking delegation official and submitted apparent written self-criticisms. Some athletes stood at attention and wept.

Experts presumed the incident to be an ideological review session examining the athletes' ideology and conduct, noting that the North Korean delegation's control methods, on display even at an international sporting event, amount to a human rights violation.

According to information gathered by The Hankook Ilbo, about 10 athletes from the North Korean national weightlifting team were sternly reprimanded by a female official around 12:20 p.m. Monday in a secluded area inside the Nagoya Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Center in Nagoya, Japan.

Afterward, the athletes submitted apparent self-criticisms. The group included gold medalists Ri Song-gum, Song Kuk-hyang and Kang Hyon-gyong. Some athletes wept openly while standing at attention.

The official was identified as Kim Chun-hui, the head coach of the North Korean national weightlifting team. Known as the godmother of North Korean women's weightlifting, Kim has long been internationally recognized as an accomplished coach.

Kim discovered 10-year-old Rim Jong-sim, coaching her to Olympic gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, and coached Ryo Un-hui to the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships title in the women's 69-kilogram category.

The specific reason for the reprimand and the exact contents of the documents remain unconfirmed. However, on-site officials said the reprimand was more likely related to a breach of conduct rules during the competition rather than athletic performance.

An event official who requested anonymity said Kim was escorting an unusually large number of North Korean officials that day. "Rather than a rebuke over results, it seems there was a breach of conduct rules," the official said.

Another official said, "I understand an ideological review session of North Korean team happens occasionally during international competitions, but it has almost never been seen in public like this."

Experts viewed the act of publicly reprimanding athletes in an open space and making them draft apparent self-criticisms as a human rights violation. Kang Dong-wan, a professor at Dong-A University, suggested the discipline may have been triggered by unauthorized contact with outsiders or athletes behaving too casually in front of officials.

"Displaying this kind of scene inside an international competition venue is an act that completely runs counter to the sporting spirit of harmony and exchange," Kang said. "This was a scene frequently witnessed in the past at North Korean restaurants overseas."

Another expert suggested the reprimand was meant to demonstrate to superiors that ideological discipline was being enforced. Yang Moo-jin, a distinguished professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the leadership style was highly likely an action meant to show superiors they were diligently conducting ideological guidance even abroad. However, he said this "excessive loyalty" directed at visiting officials negatively affected North Korea's international image instead.

"While North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un likely intended to project the image of a conventional, internationally respectable state on the international sports stage, the official in question appears to have demonstrated poor judgment and unprofessional leadership in a public venue," Yang said.

Meanwhile, the North Korean national weightlifting team delivered an outstanding performance at the tournament, with five of its seven gold medalists breaking world records.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.