Recent Sports Achievements

North Korea has achieved remarkable results in various international sports competitions, and the authorities seem to be using this as an opportunity for ‘people’s solidarity’ by reporting this fact on a large scale.

The Labor Party’s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported that North Korea won the ‘2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup’ held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on the 3rd.

Jeon Il-cheong received the Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), and the newspaper commented, “The sight of our players running around the stadium waving the dignified flag of our Republic with great pride in reporting victory to their mother country left a deep impression.”

In the final of this tournament, North Korea drew 1:1 against Spain and then won 4:3 in a penalty shootout. As a result, North Korea won the same tournament for the third time in total, following 2008 and 2016, becoming the country with the most U-17 Women’s World Cup wins.

Other Sports Achievements

Son Su-rim won the gold medal at the ‘2024 World Youth Boxing Championships’ by beating the Chinese player 3:2 in the final of this tournament held in Montenegro.

Athletes such as Choi Wi-hyun, Li Pyeong-gwang, Kim Kyung-sim, and Li Hyang-sim won medals at the 11th Asian Diving Championships held in China not long ago.

The newspaper praised the athletes for spreading their prestige and reputation all over the world and giving great inspiration to the people of the entire country.

North Korea’s Intention

This can be interpreted as North Korea’s intention to dilute internal and external difficulties and strengthen the patriotism of its people by promoting its sports achievements in the international community.

North Korea is currently in a situation where concerns about ‘public sentiment’ are growing due to chronic economic difficulties, large-scale floods last summer, and the recent issue of sending troops to Russia.

Last month, when the North Korean women’s soccer team won the FIFA U-20 World Cup, General Secretary Kim Jong-un personally called the soccer team to the headquarters of the Workers’ Party Central Committee to congratulate them and take a commemorative photo.