Hopes for inter-Korean table tennis team

"Many of the South and North Koreans table tennis athletes have expressed their hope of forming a united team. But, whether the obstacles could be overcome is not certain." Returning from the inter-Korean unification exhibition table tennis competition in Pyongang, the Sam Sung Life`s team director Kang Moon-Su expressed, "We`ve had a chance to speak at length with the table tennis athletes in the North. Although the North`s athletes spoke informally, they were hopeful of forming a joint team."

Coach Kang Moon-Su revealed that, "The member of the 1991 united team at the World Championship Kim Sun-Hui expressed she would like to once again play for a united team so I told her that I would most certainly like to lead such a team as well." The senior member of the Samsung Team at the Pyongyang exhibition game Park Hae-Sung, who had been the youngest member of the inter-Korean united team at the 1991 World Championship games expressed her sorrow, "I wanted to meet with Kim Hae-Young who was my double`s partner at the 1991 games. It is too bad I couldn`t."

Park stated that, "To my knowledge, the members of the united team at Zeba such as Kim Hae-Young, Lee Boon-Hee and Yu Soon-Bok are all working as coaches in and around Pyongyang. I had prepared gift packages for them but had to give them to others and asked them to deliver the gifts." She also said that, "The north`s team members Kim Hyun-Hui and Kim Hyang-Mi have told me they wished to be at the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan," adding, "We made a promise to be there at the games."