North Korean women’s hockey players arrive in South Korea

Sarah Murray, coach of the unified Korean women’s hockey team, meets North Korean coach Park Chul-ho for the first time at the Jincheon National Training Center on Jan. 25. (Photo Pool)

The unified team will begin training together in advance of a warm-up game against Sweden on Feb. 4

The Olympics’ first unified inter-Korean women’s hockey team was officially launched at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province on Jan. 25. After passing through the Dorasan inter-Korean transit office near the Kaesong Industrial Complex and then boarding a bus, the North Korean athletic contingent (consisting of 12 players and 3 coaching staff) arrived in front of the ice rink at the training center around 12:30 pm. They were given a warm welcome by the South Korean players on the team and by Lee Jae-geun, director of the center; Lee Ho-sik, deputy director of the center; Chung Mong-won, president of the Korea Ice Hockey Association (KIHA); and Sarah Murray, coach of the unified team.

Chung shook hands with each of the North Korean hockey players and thanked them for taking the trouble to make the long journey despite the cold weather. The North Koreans returned the courtesy by greeting him in unison and bowing their heads respectfully. The South Korean players handed bouquets of flowers to their North Korean teammates and welcomed them into the training center with a warm round of applause. When North Korean coach Pak Chul-ho passed the bouquet he had received to Murray, she responded warmly and said “gamsahamnida,” meaning “thank you” in Korean. When the South and North Korean hockey players took a commemorative photo, they shouted, “We are one.”

When asked how he felt about arriving at the training center, Pak Chol-ho said, “I’m extremely happy for North and South Korea to become one. If we put our strength and our hearts together as we compete in the games, the results will be positive,” Pak said. “No team sets out to lose a game. We will strive to use all our techniques and physical ability to do well in the games.”

North Korean hockey players receive bouquets of flowers from their South Korean counterparts upon their arrival at the Jincheon National Training Center on Jan. 25. (Photo Pool)

After the welcome ceremony, the group relocated to a restaurant where they had a convivial time. “The South Korean players encouraged their North Korean counterparts to eat more, and the North Korean players looked relaxed during the meal. The South and North Korean players looked very cheerful,” said Han Sang-deok, chair of KIHA’s athletic performance improvement committee.

Instead of putting the North Korean hockey players into training right away, Murray gave them the afternoon to rest and held an orientation that evening to introduce the exact schedule and the plans for the unified team. The team will be playing a warm-up game against Sweden on Feb. 4, and it must also gear up for the matches in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics against Switzerland on Feb. 10, Sweden on Feb. 12 and Japan on Feb. 14. The unified team will play a total of five matches until the medal round begins when four teams will compete for medals and the rest of the teams play for a final ranking. The training will begin in earnest on Jan. 26, with Murray sizing up the North Korean athletes.

“The South and North Korean hockey players seem familiar with each other since they competed in the international championship in Gangneung last April. Some of the North Koreans are decent players, too. If the two groups can click, I think that the addition of the North Korean players can be a strategic benefit, rather than a detriment,” Han Sang-deok said.

A North Korean sports delegation led bry Yun Yong-bok (center), the deputy director-general at the Sports Ministry, enters South Korea through the Dorasan inter-Korean transit office near the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Jan. 25 to begin a review of the venues for the North Korean athletes, cheerleaders, and taekwondo performance team that will take part in the Pyeongchang Olympics. (Photo Pool)

Murray increased the number of lockers in the hockey locker room at the ice rink to 35 and put name tags on them, positioning each North Korean player between two South Korean players to encourage them to get to know each other more quickly. “I saw the updated locker room for the first time today. I think it’s really starting to sink in. We don’t have much time, so I guess we’ll have to hurry and get ready,” said Shin So-jeong, a South Korean goalie for the team.

Unlike the South Korean players, the North Koreans will stay at a guesthouse. Some thought the South and North Korean players ought to use the same lodgings, but a guesthouse was apparently chosen to help the North Korean players adjust to local conditions.

By Kim Chang-keum, staff reporter

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