2 Koreas court peace in first basketball friendly in years
Friendly
Seoul, July 4, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) North and South Korea joined forces for their first basketball friendly in 15 years on Wednesday, amid a warming of relations since the Winter Olympics in the South.
This is coming as the two Koreas are easing tensions over the North’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Women athletes from the traditional foes put political differences aside to form two joint North-South teams, “Peace” and “Prosperity,” in the friendly in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
Even the packed crowd shouted and waved balloons in what turned out to be a thriller – Prosperity won 103 to 102.
Two men’s teams played later in the day.
“I am proud that sport has stood at the forefront of opening this great path to reconciliation, peace and prosperity between us,” North Korean Vice-Minister of Sports, Won Kil U, told the South Koreans.
The South Koreans will return on Friday after two more games on Thursday, this time with teams divided by country – but no flags being shown.
North Korean leader and basketball fan, Kim Jong Un, was not spotted in the crowd on Wednesday.
However, the chairman of the North’s National Sports Guidance Committee, Choe Hwi, sat next to the South’s Unification Minister, Cho Myong-gyon.
Kim had suggested the friendlies to South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, in April, when the two held their first summit at the border village of Panmunjom straddling the two Koreas.
It was the fourth time the two sides, technically still at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, have played together, the last match taking place in 2003.
Kim has in the past invited former U.S. NBA players to Pyongyang to play with North Korean players. He also struck up a friendship with former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman.
Rodman, a basketball Hall of Famer and five-time NBA champ, has travelled to North Korea multiple times.
His visits often prompted ridicule and criticism from some U.S. politicians and activists that they served as fodder for North Korean propaganda.
Relations between the two Koreas have been warming since North Korea sent athletes and a high-ranking delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February.
The action followed a year of tension and bellicose rhetoric from both sides over North Korea’s weapons programmes.
Last month, Kim held a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, a meeting that would have been unthinkable just weeks earlier.
Trump said on Tuesday that talks with North Korea were “going well” as U.S. officials seek to reach an agreement with Pyongyang over a denuclearisation plan.
This will not be the two Koreas’ last opportunity to play sport together.
They have agreed to march together under a unified peninsula flag at the Aug. 18 Asian Games ceremony in Indonesia and field combined teams in some events. (Reuters/NAN)
KIA/ERO/SA
Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Salif Atojoko
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