korean unification studies

The draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup preliminary competition was held in Durban over the weekend. And in an announcement that drew gasps from the crowd, both North and South Korea were drawn to compete against each other in Asia’s Group 3, with Jordan and Turkmenistan. Watching how this plays out could be extremely interesting: Only one of the two Koreas will now be able to proceed to the World Cup finals….  And it has given me pause to think about the role that sport has historically played in inter-Korean relations.

It is often claimed that sport is one of those few areas of human activity that can, and should, transcend politics. In 1988 the North’s boycott of the Seoul Olympics followed lengthy negotiations between the South, the North and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the North’s desire to co-host the games, which was eventually refused. Unwilling to co-host the limited number of events offered to them by the South and the IOC, the North reverted to Cold War tactics, abandoning its plans to attend the Games. Politics trumps sport.

Gabriel Jonsson, in Towards Korean Reconciliation: Socio-cultural Exchanges and Cooperation provides a comprehensive chronology of notable dates in which politics has not trumped sport.  Has politics enabled sport in these cases? Or have these events taken place despite politics?  Some of these dates, as detailed by Jonsson, include:

• 1958 - North Korea proposes joint Korean team for 1960 Olympics
• 1989 - First inter-Korean football matches played in Pyongyang (October 11), and Seoul (October 23). Jonsoon describes this as the “first real sign of progress” in inter-Korean relations.
• 1991 - (April-May) A unified Korean team participates in the 41st World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, (May) Permission granted for unified Korean youth soccer team. Televised try-out sessions held in Seoul and Pyongyang, (June) A joint Korean team participates in the 6th World Junior Soccer Championships in Portugal
• 1993 - (October) North and South Korea participate in the “Seventh General Meeting of the East Asian Athletic Council” in Pyongyang
• 1994 - (June) Both Koreas participate in the “The Association of East Asian Athletic Meeting in Taiwan.
• 1999 - (August) First North-South workers’ football matches played in Pyongyang, (September) Televised “Unification Basketball Games” played in Pyongyang, (December) “Unification Basketball Games” played in Seoul
• 2000 - (July) North and South Korea play table-tennis in Pyongyang, (September – October) South and North Korea march together under the Unification Flag at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games, (October) The sacred fire for South Korea’s National Athletic Games put on at Mt. Keumkang.
• 2002 - (June) The inauguration ceremony and matches from the Soccer World Cup are televised on North Korean TV, (September) “Unification Soccer” Games in Seoul, (Sep – Oct) North Korea participates in Asian Games held in Busan. North and South Korea march together at opening and closing ceremonies.
• 2003 - (February) Both Koreas march together at the Asian Winter Games held in Japan, (October) “Unification Basketball Games” held in North Korea televised on SBS.
• 2004 - (August) Athens Olympics: Both Koreas march together.
• 2006 - (November) North Korea supports South Korea’s bid for 2014 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

This match will be an extremely interesting game to watch. Personally, I hope that any game between the two countries is a closely fought one! What do you think? Is this event consequential for inter-Korean relations? Or not? Interestingly, this is not the first time something like this has happened. In the 2006 Asian Games at Doha, South Korea beat North Korea for a semi-final place. You can see highlights from this game below: