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Ping-pong diplomacy between the two Koreas
SEOUL, July 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Table tennis players from North and South
Korea play together in an international tournament Tuesday in the latest
instalment of Korean sporting diplomacy.
The sport has long had an unusual impact in foreign affairs, most notably
in the “ping pong diplomacy” of the 1970s between China and the US.
And sports have also had a role in the current rapprochement on the Korean
peninsula, which was catalysed by the Winter Olympics in the South.
The two Koreas marched together behind a unification flag at the Games’
opening ceremony and formed a sometimes controversial unified women’s ice
hockey team, while the host’s President Moon Jae-in seized the opportunity to
broker talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
Three months later North and South Korea’s women table tennis players
combined into a united team rather than play each other in the world team
championships quarter final, although they went on to lose their semi-final
and had to settle for bronze.
Now, after a historic summit in Singapore last month between Kim and US
President Donald Trump, 16 North Korean players are taking part in the ITTF
Korea Open tournament in Daejeon.
Four — including the North’s 2016 Olympic women’s singles bronze medallist
Kim Song I — will join a Southern counterpart in the doubles, with the first
two mixed pairs going into action on Tuesday.
The first time table tennis players from the two neighbours formed a joint
team was for the world championships back in 1991, during an earlier period
of rapprochement on the divided peninsula, when they shocked China to win the
women’s team gold.
“Table tennis has had a long history as a driver of peace, and we are happy
to open a new chapter of table tennis diplomacy to promote peace on the
Korean peninsula,” said Thomas Weikert, the head of International Table
Tennis Federation.
– ‘Beyond symbolism’ –
MORE/MR/ 1054 hrs
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During periods of warmer ties the two Koreas — which technically remain in
conflict after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with armistice instead of a peace
treaty — have regularly sought to use sports as a symbol of reconciliation.
“Sports is the easiest and least controversial link the two Koreas can
share, and there is little political burden in sports-related cooperation,”
said Lee Chang-seop, professor of physical education at Chungnam National
University.
Past joint sports events had provided rare points of contact helping South
Koreans feel that “North Koreans are humans, too”, he told AFP.
Many joint teams have been hailed more for their symbolism than their
performance — the Winter Olympics women’s ice hockey team lost all five of
their matches, outscored by a total of 36 to 2.
But the prospects for table tennis may be rosier — South Korea is a power
in the sport, with 18 Olympics medals to its name, second only to China.
The 1991 team’s month-long drama — from their first meeting to the victory
over the nine-time world champions — was made made into a 2012 movie, “As
One”, seen by nearly two million people in South, which has a population of
around 50 million.
“We have convened the best players from the both sides,” said Kim Taek-soo,
who coaches the South’s men’s team.
“So we will try to achieve something beyond symbolism and to make it to the
semifinal at least,” he told reporters.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1054 hrs