ZCZC
BSP-20
TENNIS-KOR-PRK-DIPLOMACY
Ping-pong diplomacy: N.Korea table tennis team heads South
SEOUL, July 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea will play in a table
tenniscompetition in South Korea this month, in the latest sign of warming
ties between the Cold War rivals whose rapprochement owes much to sport.
North Korea, who competed in February’s Winter Olympics in the South, will
send a team for the Korean Open south of Seoul from July 17-22, the
International Table Tennis Federation said.
“It is a proud moment for the ITTF to be able to support another sign of
peace on the Korean Peninsula, by helping North Korea send a team to the
Korean Open,” said ITTF president Tomas Weikert.
North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics set the stage for a
rapid improvement in relations with both Seoul and Washington, culminating in
last month’s summit between Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump in
Singapore.
The two Koreas, who are still technically at war, bonded over table tennis
as long ago as 1991, when they joined forces for the world championships in
Japan and won the women’s team event.
At the world team championships in May, North and South Korea were due to
face each other in the women’s quarter-finals — but they were given
permission to form a joint team instead, losing to Japan in the semi-finals.
“The momentous unified team at the 2018 World Table Tennis
Championships… showed the world that countries can find peace on a table
tennis table,” Weikert said in a statement.
Only this week, about 50 men and women basketball players from South Korea
played alongside North Koreans in combined teams in the North Korean capital
Pyongyang.
The two sides are also discussing marching together at the opening
ceremony of next month’s Asian Games, where they will field joint teams in
canoeing, rowing and women’s basketball.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1745HRD