North Korea is reportedly close to securing its first significant global sports event in almost 40 years, in line with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s plans to turn the reclusive country into a sporting powerhouse.
According to Inside the Games, a Web site specializing in the organization of international sporting events, Pyongyang hopes to host the world junior judo championships in 2017, and the world weightlifting junior championships the following year.
The last major global sports event to be held in North Korea was the world table tennis championship in 1979.
According to the Web site, a “senior member of North Korea’s sporting set-up” who was attending the senior weightlifting world championships in Texas last week suggested one of the target events was already in the bag.
“It is definite, the junior world championship of judo will be in our country in 2017,” the unnamed official said.
An official at the Korea Judo Association in Seoul said he was aware of “unofficial talks” between Pyongyang and the international judo federation, but he had no knowledge of any agreement being reached.
“That said, there is no reason to oppose North Korea hosting any world championships,” he added.
International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer visited Pyongyang earlier this month, but North Korean state media coverage of his two-day trip was limited to one-line announcements of his arrival and departure.
North Korea is relatively strong in judo, which accounted for one of the four gold medals it won at the 2012 London Olympics.
The other three came in weightlifting — a sport in which it can genuinely claim a growing global prestige.
International Weightlifting Federation chief Attila Adamfi has made it clear he believes a North Korean-hosted world championships would be good for the sport.
Kim is known to be an avid sports fan and in March he promised state support to turn his country into a sports powerhouse “within a few years.”
North Korea has competed in nine summer Olympics since Munich in 1972, but taken home only 14 gold medals. The four golds it won in London equaled its best-ever tally.
In October 2013 Kim introduced a policy rewarding successful athletes with luxury apartments in recognition of their achievements.
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