North and South Korean table tennis players who participated in the World Championships held a surprise single-team demonstration match at the Tullesand Hotel in Halmstad, Sweden on May 2, 2018 (local time). The photo shows Seo Hyo-won (left) in South Korea and Kim Nam-hae in North Korea. Provided by the Korean Table Tennis Association
#1 D-6. Panmunjom Peace House on April 27, 2018.
“I solemnly declare to the Korean people and the world that there will be no more wars on the Korean Peninsula and that a new era of peace has begun.” President Moon Jae-in, wearing a blue tie, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, wearing a striped black people’s uniform, stood side by side on a podium installed in front of the House of Peace. The two leaders were tense in front of a new historic milestone on the Korean Peninsula, but their voices were full of confidence. On this day, the two leaders together announced the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula, made up of 3 groups and 13 terms.
#2 D-4. April 29, 2018 Halmstad, Sweden
Table tennis players from all over the world flock to Halmstad, a small beach in southwestern Sweden. The opening ceremony of the 2018 World Table Tennis Championships. South Korean and North Korean players each competed with different national flags of South Korea and North Korea on their chests.
#3 D-2. Halmstad, Sweden, May 1st, 2018
The Korean women’s team team advanced to the quarterfinals by winning the preliminary round.
#4 D-1. Halmstad, Sweden, May 2nd, 2018
The situation in which North Korea will confront Russia the next day by defeating Russia in the 16th round. Just five days ago, the two leaders of the two Koreas together proclaimed a new history of the Korean peninsula, but it was a situation in which the two Koreas had to meet each other as enemies at a world sports competition. In the mind of Thomas Weikert, chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), a question arose when he heard of the situation in which North Korea is on the way to the quarterfinals and confronts South Korea the next day. ‘Why can’t South Korea and North Korea play together and have to face each other as enemies?’
Surprise Single Team Demonstration Match
At 7 o’clock this evening, Haiti F was ahead of an important event called the foundation ceremony. Korea’s Seung-min Yoo, an International Olympic Committee member, has been appointed as the first ambassador for the ITTF Foundation. Yoo Seung-min, who is also a gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the age of 35 in 2016, and lived a brilliantly second life as a sports administrator. Summarizing the reports of those involved at the time, Chairman Thomas Weikert thought about how to make the foundation’s founding ceremony a box office. He asked Commissioner Seung-min Yoo. “The waves of peace are rising nicely on the Korean peninsula, and we don’t need a performance, too?” Commissioner Seung-min Yoo replied, recalling the meeting between the two leaders of the two Koreas at Panmunjom just a few days ago. “We have both South Korean and North Korean players in the region. How about playing a demonstration game with North and South Korean players as an event at the inaugural ceremony?” First formed at the 1991 Chiba World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, the South-North single team won the women’s team competition, which remains a symbol of peace between the two Koreas in the history of sports. May 2, 2018, 7pm. When the foundation’s inauguration ceremony began, table tennis figures from all over the world gathered at the Tullesand Hotel in Halmstad, Sweden. South Korean national team members Seo Hyo-won and Yang Ha-eun, and North Korean players Choi Hyeon-hwa and Kim Nam-hae appeared in surprise at the event. It was an unexpected appearance for anyone. Ma Young-sam, chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation referee, said. “Yang Ha-eun and Choi Hyun-hwa will start the doubles match with the’Korea Alliance 1′, and Seo Hyo-won and Kim Nam-hae in the’Korea Alliance 2′.” The event was played like a joke and lasted about 3 minutes. The result was 3 to 3. Chairman Ma shouted “Joint win!” The foundation’s founding ceremony, which started at 7 pm, continued until 8:30 even after the 8 pm event match. The event I thought would end around 8 o’clock got longer. There was one person who began to get more and more impatient at the event that was longer than expected. It was Joo Jeong-cheol, Secretary General of the North Korean Table Tennis Association. Chief Secretary Joo came to Sweden with North Korean players as the chairman of the North Korean Table Tennis Association and as a player leader. North Korean women players had to play in the quarterfinals with South Korean players the next day at 10 am. Captain Joo was worried that Choi Hyun-hwa and Kim Nam-hae, who were there, would get worse. Chief Secretary Joo told President Weikert. “Because it’s 10 o’clock tomorrow, the players are in condition, so I hope the event ends soon. The players should go to the stadium at least tomorrow at 8:30 or 9 o’clock.” Chairman Baikert was about to discuss the atmosphere of the event more successful than expected with IOS player member Yoo Seung-min and Park Chang-ik, executive director of the Korean Table Tennis Association.
On May 3, 2018 (local time), Thomas Weikert, chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) (right) and Yoo Seung-min, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), held a press conference in Halmstad, Sweden, who arranged to form a single table tennis team. Are doing. Halmstad/EPA Yonhap News
On the spot, Chairman Weikert made an unexpected proposal to the three people in the table tennis team of North and South Korea. “The atmosphere between the two Koreas is good, but how about playing as a single team between the two Koreas in a real match? I won’t play the North-South game tomorrow.” Suddenly, a single South-North team. During the 70-year history of division, discussions on a single team in various sports events have continued. But most of the time, complicated political interests were entangled, causing things to go wrong. “Is that possible? It’s 8 pm now, and 10 am tomorrow.” Commissioner Yoo asked President Weikert. “What can’t I do?” President Weikert said that it was no big deal. “We will accept the consent of other countries, so please get the consent of each government in South Korea and North Korea until 4 am. However, if even one country opposes, I will not promote it.” On April 27, 2018, only five days ago, President Moon Jae-in, Chairman Kim Jong-un, and the two leaders of South Korea and North Korea met at Panmunjom. At Panmunjeom, the two leaders crossed the military demarcation line between South Korea and North Korea freely, and cracks began to break even in the thorns of the division deeply embedded in the hearts of the Korean and North Korean people. It was the flow after all. It was important to ride the flow. History was not always written in one expected direction, and at some point, it suddenly and accidentally swirled and the flow changed for a moment. 10pm local time in Halmstad, Sweden. 6 a.m. Korean time. The deadline, which must be approved by the government, is 4 am the day after local time. Chairman Weikert hastily left to get the country’s consent for a single South-North team. The member states he must obtain consent from were all seven countries except Korea. At the seat of the chairman’s departure, working-level staff from South and North Korea remained, including Commissioner Seung-min Yoo, Secretary General Joo Jeong-cheol of the North Korean Table Tennis Association, and Chang-ik Park, executive director of the Korean Table Tennis Association. In an unexpected and absurd (?) mission, I couldn’t prematurely say that anyone in the spot “can do it”.
Extra time gained by Seungmin Yoo’s efforts
In the end, it was Yoo Seung-min who carried the commission of a single South-North team. It was decided to promote a single South-North team, and he headed to the place where the players who were the parties to the formation of a single South-North team were first. Prior to being the new ambassador of the HaitiF Foundation, Yoo was a member of the Iowa athlete representing the interests of athletes, and he knew more than anyone how important the consent of athletes is in the process of promoting a single team. Commissioner Yoo headed to the training ground with the players. “Tomorrow at 10 o’clock in the match against North Korea, a single team discussion is underway. However, if even one of the people here rejects a single South-North team, we will stop discussing the single team.” The players couldn’t speak up at his sudden words. For players, a single team between the two Koreas was a sensitive issue. This is because if a single team between the two Koreas is formed, the two teams are merged into a single team, so some of the players may not be able to play in the game. Commissioner Yu said. “However, even if we promote a single team, we promise to guarantee the number of entries and medals for all players, and we will promote a single team. So please feel free to comment without seeing my eyes or noting the director.” The next day at 10:00, the South Korean team had to face North Korea in the quarterfinals. North Korea was not an easy opponent, and if they were to face off in the quarter-finals, one of the two teams would have to fall. However, if the South Korean team and the North Korean team were teamed up as a single team, it was an automatic advance to the quarterfinals, and the third and fourth place matches were not held separately, so even if they lost in the quarterfinals, they could win the bronze medal. If the number of entries and medals were guaranteed there, there would be no loss for any one of the players. The answers were being collected. All of the players on the scene agreed with the proposal of Commissioner Seung-min Yoo. “If you are a sports player, you want to go higher. I thought that if I join forces with the North Korean players, my power will be stronger. Kim Song-i from North Korea is also an Olympic bronze medalist, and we also have athletes who are good at it. I was greedy because I think that if South Korea and North Korea do together rather than separate, their strength will increase.” Later, when interviewed separately, Seo Hyo-won said: With the consent of the players, Commissioner Seung-min Yoo and the working-level table tennis team began to quietly move toward a single team between the two Koreas amid uncertainty that the road had not been taken. Commissioner Seung-min Yoo immediately called the vice-chairman of the Table Tennis Association Lee Yoo-seong to report on the progress of the local South-North single team. In Korea, each line from the morning to the Korea Sports Association, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Unification, and the Blue House moved quickly and breathlessly. In the context of politically advanced inter-Korean relations, the South Korean ministry also quickly responded by dealing with table tennis players’ discussion of a single inter-Korean team as a special matter. On the dark morning of May 3, Commissioner Seung-min Yoo, Executive Vice President Chang-Ik Park and Jae-koo Shim, Secretary General of the Korea Table Tennis Association sat face to face in the hotel lobby of Halmstad. There was a feeling of silence in the hotel lobby without people. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. The lobby of the hotel in the early morning, where even the sound of breath is heard, and the deadline for government approval of a single South and North Korean team suggested by Chairman Weikert, at 4 am, is approaching. The awaited government approval call didn’t finally come. ‘Isn’t that possible?’ At 4 am, there was no approval from the South Korean government or the North Korean government. The moment when the efforts of the South Korean and North Korean working-level staff who spent all night in the morning are going to waste. ‘little bit more… .’ Commissioner Seung-min Yoo, who couldn’t be finished here, ran to the ITF side and begged. “It is so unfair that I have suffered so far. Just give me an hour. Even then, I will give up if I can’t hear from you.” I got additional time through the efforts of Commissioner Yoo, and 30 minutes later, 4:30 am. Finally, a call came from Korea. “Government approval has declined.” The moment the dream-like South-North single team crossed the first hurdle, but it wasn’t over yet. A single inter-Korean team could never have been achieved if one government approved it. There was still no news in North Korea. 4:40 am… 41 minutes… 42 minutes… 43 minutes… 44 minutes… . The moment one minute and one second feels heartbreaking. The clock hand pointed to 4:45 am. In the distance of the hotel lobby, Secretary Joo Jeong-cheol appeared.
Table tennis players from South and North Korea are taking pictures together after an agreement on the formation of a single team in a team match at the World Table Tennis Championships on May 3, 2018 (local time). In the women’s team match, a confrontation between the two Koreas was scheduled in the quarterfinals, but as the two Koreas agreed to form a single team, they advanced to the quarterfinals without the quarterfinals. Halmstad/EPA Yonhap News
(Continued from Episode 2) Joint Planning Fact Story
▶ Can sports cross borders with politics? After 30 years ago in 1991, a single South-North table tennis team was formed again in 2018. That spring, it was just after the two leaders of the two Koreas met at Panmunjom. Thirty years ago, single-team players became managers and mentors, and their disciples took over Baton. Now that inter-Korean relations are shrouded in fog, we look back at the story of a single team that opened a new era. Myungfilm and Fact Story worked with this project, and Myungfilm is making a documentary film. Reporter Kim Ji-na is also active as a reporter non-fiction writer.