[Editorial] North’s Airing of South’s Victory

It is encouraging the North Korean TV aired the South Korea’s victory. On June 23, 2002, the Central TV of North Korea belatedly aired the main edited tape of the South Korea v. Italy match for one hour. The North put it on air five days after the match.

Airing of the game was a quite rare reaction, considering the past behavior of the North. From June 1, the North Korea aired recorded World Cup games almost every night. But games involving South Korea and Japan had never been. When South’s games were put on air at all, they were all about lost games. Furthermore, the North commented, “This victory elevated South Koreans’ spirit.” It is a remarkably positive reaction from the North.

We have felt sorry for the North decision not to partake in this festival of the global society. Actually, the South got a mixed feeling of pity and disappointment from the North Korea’s grudge against the South success in this World Cup. The North’s unexpected reaction of airing the game would probably pave the way for boosting ethical identity. Hopefully, the global community may consider this event as a token of detente between the two Koreas, thus sending positive ripple effects to the world.

Sport is an excellent instrument for melting down tension and hostility. The spirit of fair play can easily unite people of different system and ideology. Deals for sports events are much easier to make than talks for political or economic matters. Moreover, once the deal is made, people feel more united, much easily and shortly.

The airing by the North could lead to smoothing the relations between two Koreas after the World Cup, especially to the agreement for the friendly South-North match in September. Then we could share the moving spirit of the World Cup and get one step closer to harmony.