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Two Koreas' women boxers take to the ring

North Korea was the big winner in a series of women's boxing matches sponsored by a South Korean promoter who wants to see the two countries move closer together by meeting in the ring.

Women from the two countries fought each other on Tuesday for the first time in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in matches sponsored by boxing promoter Park Sang-kwon's newly created World Boxing Council Female.

North Korean women won all four bouts, including one in which Han Yon Soon defeated South Korean Han Min-joo in the light-flyweight category, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Yvonne Caples, a 33-year-old English teacher who started boxing at the University of California and trains in Las Vegas, lost to Choi Eun Soon for the WBCF flyweight title.

Kim Kwang Ok seized the bantamweight title over Shiro Morimoto of Japan, and Ryu Myung Ok knocked out Elizabeth Sanchez of Mexico in a super flyweight bout.

"The strongest are those who win over the strong. Although the Japanese boxer was persistent, I pressed her with all my might," new champion Kim told South Korea's Yonhap news agency after her fight.

"I'm glad we showed how strong North Korea's women's boxing is," she said.

Some 13,000 North Koreans crowded the Pyongyang stadium to cheer their fighters on, also enjoying the rare sight of one of the young women who announce the rounds wearing a colorful Hanbok, Korea's traditional dress, according to Yonhap.

Amateur boxers from the two Koreas also met each other in the ring, but the six matches all ended in ties, Yonhap reported.

Park wants to use boxing to improve relations between the two Koreas, but his efforts have created problems in the world of women's boxing.

The California-based International Female Boxers Association refused to sanction Tuesday's matches and vacated the titles of the North Korean fighters Kim and Ryu.

IFBA founder Rick Kulis has accused Park of a conflict of interest by heading the boxing association and promoting the North Korean fighters, creating a potentially unfair situation for foreign fighters.

Park says North Korea has more than 2,000 male and female boxers and that he is promoting the fighters from the communist country because no one else wants to do it.
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