North Korea media offers no coverage of S. Korean delegation
While North Korean delegation’s visits here are making headlines, the South Korean delegation that visited the North from Tuesday through Thursday got no coverage from Pyongyang’s media.
The delegation returned home after inspecting sites for events at Mount Geumgang and the Masikyrong Ski Resort ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The little coverage of the South Korean visitors in the North was in stark contrast with the South Korean media’s extensive coverage of North Korean delegates visiting to prepare for Pyongyang’s participation in the Games next month.
There had been heated competition to cover a visit by a North Korean delegation led by music troupe leader Hyon Song-wol to the South earlier this week.
Photos of Hyon were splashed over the front pages of local newspapers during and after the delegation’s visit, which was arranged to check performance halls for her troupe that will perform in Seoul and Gangneung, Gangwon Province, next month.
North Korean media produced coverage of the Hyon-led delegation’s visit to the South, but remained silent during the South Korean delegation’s visit to the North.
The South Korean delegation, which examined a performance hall at Mount Geumgang for an inter-Korean cultural event, Masikyrong for joint-training of skiers and the Kalma International Airport to check whether South Koreans could travel by air, returned to Seoul, Thursday.
In the meantime, South Korean news outlets are closely following the footsteps of a North Korean delegation and a team of ice hockey players who arrived here the same day.
The eight-member delegation led by Yun Yong-bok, a senior-level sports ministry official, is here for a three-day visit to inspect stadiums, accommodation and press facilities in Seoul, PyeongChang and Gangneung. A large-scale North Korean contingent will take part in the Olympics, including athletes, cheerleaders, a taekwondo demonstration team and reporters.
Along with the delegation, 12 North Korean ice hockey players, a coach and two assistants arrived for joint-training with their South Korean counterparts.
The delegation and ice hockey team crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) at around 9:20 a,m., and arrived at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, south of the border, at around 9;30 a.m.
The delegation headed to Gangneung and examined skating competition venues and accommodation there.
It will check ski competition venues, a broadcasting center and accommodation in PyeongChang today.
Before heading back to the North, the delegation will inspect a performance hall and accommodation for its taekwondo demonstration team, Saturday.
Meanwhile, the ice hockey team headed to the national training center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, following its arrival in the South.
“I am happy that the North and South have become one,” the North Korean coach Pak Chol-ho said in a welcoming ceremony for the team. “We will be able to obtain good results if we put together our hearts and energy during this short period (of training).”
Separate training will begin today, and joint training next week. Sarah Murray, the head coach of the South Korea women’s national team will run the practices.
The inter-Korean team will have a warm-up game against Sweden on Feb. 4, before the Olympics.
The list of ice hockey players from the North released by the unification ministry shows 11 out of the 12 players took part in the 2017 Women’s World Championship Division II tournament in Gangneung.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the fielding of an inter-Korean women’s ice hockey team at a meeting in Switzerland on Saturday.
The team will be comprised of 23 South Korean and 12 North Korean players. Twenty-two players will take part in each game and three of them will be North Korean.
Other North Korean athletes will come to the South, Feb. 1. The orchestral music troupe from the North will arrive, Feb. 6.