Hyun Jung-hwa and Lee Boon-hee represented Korea together at the table tennis world championships in 1991, winning together. Now Seoul and Pyongyang are blocking their attempt to come together to celebrate their past glories, and prevents a missionary from delivering a ring (sign of friendship) sent from one to the other.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The international tension that divides the two Koreas has not spared even sports, vector ( along with music) of several attempts at reconciliation between the two nations. The governments of Seoul and Pyongyang have in fact blocked the attempt of Hyun Jung-hwa - director of the Korea Table Tennis - and Lee Boon-hee, secretary general of the North Korean athletes with disabilities from meeting. The two had played (and won) in a single team the 1991 table tennis world championships (see photo).

Before the attempted meeting, Hyun had also tried to send a commemorative ring "a sign of friendship" to Lee: this attempt also failed, but the Northern athlete said he received the gift "with his heart." The charge to deliver the ring was given to Shin Yeong-sun, a missionary who works with Purun Namu, an international exchange association of Koreans abroad.

Shin, who works alongsideo Lee in the Paralympic Village in Beijing, met the athlete who said: "I miss Hyun and I hope to see him again one day. I got received his ring in my heart." According to Shin the South Korean government put a halt to the meeting: "They stopped the meeting and closed off all routes. I decided not to deliver the ring because of this tension, but I hope that soon things will change."

 

• korea
• sport
• tension
• meeting
• table
• tenis
• dialogue
• reconciliation