Foreign funding may have catapulted North Korean weightlifter Kim Un Guk to international fame and helped his country earn its biggest number of Olympic gold medals in two decades at the just-concluded London games.
Kim, who lifted his way to a gold medal and a world record in the men’s 62-kilogram division on July 30, has been a recipient of a training scholarship from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), according to a committee official.
For the past two years, he had received a stipend—fat by North Korean standards—from the IOC, a media representative from the committee in London told RFA last week.
Through the scholarship program, the IOC paid Kim U.S. $1,500 per month from September 2010 to August 2012 for a total of $36,000, the representative said.
By comparison, the official average monthly wage in North Korea is about 2,000 to 6,000 won (U.S. $0.70 to $2), reports have said. The North Korean won officially trades at around 130 to the U.S. dollar, but the market rate, which is far more indicative, is about 3,000 won per dollar.
The scholarship program under which Kim was enrolled is run by the Olympic Solidarity Commission, an IOC group that provides support to poor countries participating in the Olympics and gave scholarship money to some 1,300 athletes from 171 countries competing in this year’s games.
Kim, whose weightlifting medal helped North Korea have its best Olympic gold haul since the 1992 Games in Barcelona, was the only one among the country's 56 athletes competing this year to have received the scholarship, the representative said.
National Olympic program
North Korea, which relies on international food aid to feed its people, ranked 20th out of all countries in its medal count this year— thanks to a state-supported program that selects athletes at a young age, trains them in specialized schools, and threatens them with harsh punishments if they fail.
When accepting their prizes, medal-winners like Kim give nearly identical speeches praising the country’s strict regime for their success.
"I won first place because the shining Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un gave me power and courage," Kim told reporters after setting a world record total of 327 kilograms.
Soccer delegation
As the Olympic athletes return to isolated North Korea, a women’s soccer team from the reclusive nation is preparing to participate in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in August and September in Japan.
They will become the largest group of North Koreans to visit Japan since 2006.
Japan, which banned entry to North Koreans six years ago in protest against a nuclear test by Pyongyang, will issue visas to about 40 members of the soccer delegation to travel for the tournament, Kyodo News reported Monday.
The team’s visas will be issued through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, according to Kyodo, since Japan has no diplomatic ties with North Korea.
Reported by Jinkuk Kim for RFA’s Korean service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.