Rare football match between two Koreas held in Seoul
- 6 years ago
Labor union workers from the two Koreas played each other in football on Saturday.
It's the latest in a series of inter-Korean exchanges this year in sports... that started with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Won Jung-hwan ... was at Saturday's match... and filed this report.
A grand celebration of sports and inter-Korean unity at Seoul's Sangam World Cup Stadium on Saturday as labor union workers from the two Koreas faced off in a couple of friendly football matches.
It was an exciting moment for the teams of amateurs,... playing in front of 30-thousand spectators packed into one of South Korea's biggest football stadiums.
In the first game,… the North Korean labor group beat the South Korean by 3-1,... and for the second match, the winner also went to the North Korean team, netting two goals against the South Korean side.
The results didn't really matter much to the South Korean fans and labor workers that filed into the stadium to watch the games despite the sizzling summer heat.
"It's my first time seeing North Korean players,… its really new for me."
"I am very happy to see everyone cheering together as one."
"It's interesting to see how we all come together rather than cheering for one team."
"The rare football match marks the first inter-Korean private sporting exchange event since President Moon Jae-in held his first historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom back in April."
It's hoped this occasion will spur further cross-border sporting exchanges, especially as inter-Korean relations seem to be moving in a more positive direction since the Panmunjom summit between the leaders of the two Koreas in April.
This edition of the workers' football match was the fourth of its kind,… following two in Pyongyang in 1999 and 2015, and one in the South Korean city of Changwon in 2007.
But with Saturday's match going so smoothly and ties warming between Seoul and Pyongyang, it's likely the matches will come thicker and faster in the future.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.
It's the latest in a series of inter-Korean exchanges this year in sports... that started with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Won Jung-hwan ... was at Saturday's match... and filed this report.
A grand celebration of sports and inter-Korean unity at Seoul's Sangam World Cup Stadium on Saturday as labor union workers from the two Koreas faced off in a couple of friendly football matches.
It was an exciting moment for the teams of amateurs,... playing in front of 30-thousand spectators packed into one of South Korea's biggest football stadiums.
In the first game,… the North Korean labor group beat the South Korean by 3-1,... and for the second match, the winner also went to the North Korean team, netting two goals against the South Korean side.
The results didn't really matter much to the South Korean fans and labor workers that filed into the stadium to watch the games despite the sizzling summer heat.
"It's my first time seeing North Korean players,… its really new for me."
"I am very happy to see everyone cheering together as one."
"It's interesting to see how we all come together rather than cheering for one team."
"The rare football match marks the first inter-Korean private sporting exchange event since President Moon Jae-in held his first historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom back in April."
It's hoped this occasion will spur further cross-border sporting exchanges, especially as inter-Korean relations seem to be moving in a more positive direction since the Panmunjom summit between the leaders of the two Koreas in April.
This edition of the workers' football match was the fourth of its kind,… following two in Pyongyang in 1999 and 2015, and one in the South Korean city of Changwon in 2007.
But with Saturday's match going so smoothly and ties warming between Seoul and Pyongyang, it's likely the matches will come thicker and faster in the future.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.