N. Korea puts greater emphasis on sports

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses with children at the People’s Open Air Ice Rink in Pyongyang in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Monday. / Yonhap

North Korea is showing noticeable effort in promoting sports from football to rollerblading in the latest reflection of a new leadership style exhibited by Kim Jong-un.

The efforts, formalized by the establishment a new sports commission, will build on the nation’s surprise success at the London Olympics and paint Kim as more in tune with the interests of the people than his reclusive father Kim Jong-il.

Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju have taken in multiple sporting events since Ri emerged from a 50-day hiatus from public appearances, including football and volleyball.

At the football match, state media said Kim underlined “the need to give rise to a hot sports wind throughout the country” and that “sports play a role which nothing can substitute for in exalting the country’s dignity and infusing national pride and self-esteem into the people.”

On Sunday, the regime announced that the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party had established the State Physical Sports and Culture Commission to “control the overall sports work of the country in a unified manner.

The commission will work to increase interest in “physical culture,” improving sports technology, making sports part of daily life and training athletes for international competition.

Kim’s powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek has been tapped to head the commission.

The announcement came a day after Kim visited three sports-related sites: the new Ryugyong Health Complex, the People’s Open Air Ice Rink and a recently opened skate park, all in Pyongyang.

Observers said the moves are in line with a people-oriented leadership style modeled after his grandfather Kim Il-sung. But skeptics point out that major improvements have thus far been limited to the capital city, creating a growing wealth divide.

Despite rampant malnutrition and shortfalls in food, North Korean athletes surprised the world by winning four gold and two bronze medals at the London Olympics, performing particularly well in weightlifting.

Kim, who studied at a boarding school in Switzerland, is said to be a big fan of basketball. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>