PARIS 2024 JO – It was one of the images of the Paris 2024 Games. After the end of the mixed doubles table tennis event on July 31, the Olympic podium gave rise to a powerful scene from a diplomatic point of view: a selfie between Chinese, South Korean and North Korean athletes.
Paris Olympics 2024: North and South Korea take a very political selfie on the podium
The selfie was taken by South Korean Lim Jong-hoon, who won the bronze medal with Shin Yu-bin, and showed him alongside Chinese Olympic champions Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha and the North Korean Olympic vice-champion pair of Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong.
Among the most high-profile images of these Games, the photo bringing together athletes from North and South Korea marked the return of North Korean sport to the forefront. Three years after the Games in Japan, shunned by North Korea due to Covid-19.
A rare moment of unity between the two countries, in the midst of a period of tension, the impact of this simple selfie now has more serious consequences for the two athletes of the North Korean delegation. This is what is suggested The Guardian this Monday, September 2, mentioning some rather unsettling news for Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong.
« Contamination » occidentale
According to sources cited by the leading British newspaper, Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong were subjected to a “ideological examination” month upon their return to the country. So far, nothing particularly abnormal since the North Korean regime subjects all its athletes and members of the North Korean Olympic Committee exposed in one way or another to life outside their country to this procedure. A way of ” to identify possible ideological gaps ” after their return and thus track down a possible ” contamination » in contact with Western society.
This is detailed in an article in the Daily NK, a site dedicated to North Korean news but based in Seoul, referring to an evaluation procedure that began on August 15, which includes an expert report detecting ” any behavior contrary to party guidelines or propaganda “, an analysis determining whether the athletes’ performance is consistent with previous international sporting events (and therefore whether or not it deserves congratulations). Or, sessions to confess one’s own inappropriate behavior, or that of other athletes in the delegation.
Citing a high-ranking source in Pyongyang, the media outlet said the two table tennis players were indeed subjected to these regime examinations, with a negative opinion due to their presence in this selfie. Indeed, they were formally forbidden from interacting with competitors of other nationalities.
Deep self-criticism required
According to the report consulted by Daily NK, their mistake was to have ” smile ” by posing with their South Korean opponents and smiling too long at other athletes as they came down from the podium. Missteps, despite the title of Olympic vice-champion, that Pyongyang does not seem able to forget. Knowing that another detail could not escape the North Korean authorities: the selfie was taken with a Samsung smartphone, the flagship of South Korean industry, as part of an IOC initiative to allow athletes to immortalize this moment themselves.
Due to the opacity of the North Korean regime, it is currently impossible to know the fate of the two athletes. However, their only chance of getting off lightly is to carry out a deep self-criticism of their actions to escape possible political and administrative sanctions, as indicated by the South Korean newspaper Korean Times.
It is also difficult to determine the exact nature of these sanctions, even if North Korea has already punished athletes or coaches in the past. Through forced labor, in the case of the North Korean football coach, after the rout at the 2010 World Cup. Or through public humiliation, as for the North Korean footballers of the same World Cup, booed by 400 people, in the public square, for six hours.
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