The North Korean women’s national basketball team held an official media interview. North Korea’s head coach and guard Kang Hyang-mi were there. Reporters from around the world asked them questions, but they didn’t get the answers they wanted. A North Korean official accompanying the duo to the press conference interrupted to say that he was offended by the use of “North Korea” as “DPRK“. The official broke the ice by asking for the official name of the country to be used instead of “North Korea”.
The official press conference was held after Korea defeated North Korea 81-62 in the second game of the Women’s Basketball Group C at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on Monday. The press conference started later than scheduled. A North Korean official who wasn’t scheduled to attend walked in with Chung and Kang Hyang-mi. The official intervened in the interview by acting as a translator. After Chung and Kang Hyang-mi finished talking about the match, the Q&A began.
A Reuters reporter asked the first question. The reporter from Reuters asked the first question: “Since you played as a single team in the last tournament, do you want to form a single team again and when would you like to do so? “This question has nothing to do with today’s game,” the North Korean official said, “I’m not going to answer it.” Chung and Kang stared blankly into space.
The questions continued. The reporter asked, “How do you feel about the enthusiastic support from the North Korean cheering squad?” and “Is the food good after so many years of international competitions? “We are not ‘North Korea,’ we are the DRP (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea),” the North Korean official retorted in English, “and at the Asian Games, we have to call all countries by their correct names.” “This is not good,” he added. “This is not good,” he said, demanding that they “apologize.”
The North Korean official was not even scheduled to attend, and the official press office said they only recognized him as an “interpreter” and did 토토 not know exactly who he was. The moderator of the official press conference said, “The North Korean athletes’ late appearance at the press conference was because the athletes requested that someone else enter the press conference,” adding, “We don’t know who that person is or why he entered the press conference. We are also curious.”