Table tennis champions said to be in ‘cleanse from exposure to contamination’ following podium picture with opponents
It was a heartwarming moment that captured the Olympic spirit, but North Korea’s table tennis champions may be punished for joining a selfie with their opponents from the South.
Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, who won silver medals, are said to be undergoing “ideological evaluation” along with other athletes who returned from the Paris Games.
The assessment is a standard procedure to “cleanse” the team from “exposure to contamination” abroad, the Daily NK reported.
North Korean athletes were reportedly given “special instructions” not to interact with South Koreans or other foreign athletes in Paris, under threat of repercussions.
Since returning from France, the Olympic team is believed to be in the process of a three-stage ideological assessment process by the country’s ministry of sport.
It is said to last about a month, with the intention of purging any lingering influence of “non-socialist” culture.
Table tennis champions said to be in ‘cleanse from exposure to contamination’ following podium picture with opponents
Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, who won silver medals, are said to be undergoing “ideological evaluation” along with other athletes who returned from the Paris Games.
the Daily NK reported.
Citing anonymous official sources in Pyongyang, the news outlet, which specialises in North Korean affairs
Daily NK is a recipient of funding from multiple institutions and private donors, including the National Endowment for Democracy,[4] an NGO funded by the U.S. Congress. Daily NK's president is Lee Kwang-baek.
The organization is part of a consortium with the Unification Media Group, which is a South Korea–based non-profit organization that produces and delivers radio content into North Korea via short-wave radio broadcasts.
So it's a NED funded propaganda network controlled by Lee Kwang-baek
Lee Kwang Baek has served as Daily NK's president since 2014 alongside his role as president of Unification Media Group. He is an advisor to the Korea Hana Foundation
Yeah, it's pretty weird that they're banning (rightly but not thoroughly enough) Russia, but North Korea, Israel, and China get to participate as equals with the countries that AREN'T currently committing genocide, starving millions, and doping like there's no tomorrow.
It's almost like the ACTUAL reasoning of the IOC is nonpublic and laundry based.
I'm pretty sure Russia only got banned because they had a state-sponsored doping system. Long as you don't get caught with that, you can be as authoritarian as you want.
North Korea is the ultimate "big bad" for the west.
Just say literally anything bad you want about them and the people at large will eat it up because they have already been primed to do so.
I mean, people genuinely believe that north Koreans are both starving having to live on grass and bugs, but also that they have to manually push trains around...logic doesn't exist.
Kidnapping is based with North Koreans if it means giving them a better, happier and healthier life and a chance to let these particular athletes escape what will inevitably be a death sentence for taking a picture with the South Koreans. Are you just clueless or what? Kim has enslaved their entire nation with an iron fist.
Fun. When the news came first time, the comments were all mansplaining to a guy that said "hope they will be okay" that the athletes definitely are not going to get in trouble for this. I don't understand where people think their educated guesses are worth spreading like gospel when they aren't experts at all on the question