During the men’s team shooting competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games, tensions rose as the North Korean team narrowly missed out on the gold medal, instead receiving silver.
When the winners’ national anthem played, the three North Korean athletes broke tradition by refusing to turn towards the flag, causing discomfort among their rivals from South Korea.
The awkwardness continued during the customary group photo, in which all medal winners typically stand together for the cameras.
While South Korea and Indonesia joined together on the top rung of the podium, the North Koreans, Kwon Kwang-il, Pak Myong-won, and Songjun Yu, did not.
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Despite attempts by the South Koreans to communicate with them, the North Koreans remained silent and did not even look towards their rivals.
This latest controversy involving the long-isolated North Korean team follows the Olympic Council of Asia’s decision to allow the North Korean flag to fly at the Games, despite the country’s non-compliance with global anti-doping rules.
With the Hangzhou Asian Games being the first international multi-sport event attended by North Korea since the 2018 edition in Jakarta, the team’s suspension from the International Olympic Committee until the end of 2022, which caused them to miss the Beijing Winter Games last year, further complicates matters.
The ongoing tension between North and South Korea, with the two countries still technically at war since the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953, only adds to the complexity of the situation.
