North Korea at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids
North Korea sent athletes to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time North Korea ever took part in the Winter Paralympics. The country had two skiers, Kim Jonghyon and Ma Yuchol, who raced in para-Nordic skiing.
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Working Together for the Games
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that North Korea would join the Winter Games for the first time. The North Korean team competed under a Korean unification flag. This was similar to how their team for the 2018 Winter Olympics competed.
North Korea had competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics before. On January 1, 2018, Kim Jong-un said he wanted North Koreans to compete at both the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
North Korean officials met with the IPC in Lusanne, Switzerland, on January 20, 2018. At this meeting, North Korea and South Korea asked the IPC if they could compete as one team. On February 27, the two countries met again at a small village near the border with South Korea. They talked about how they would compete together at the Winter Games. The South Korean government believed that North Korea joining the Games was important. They thought it could help reduce problems between the two countries.
Meet the Athletes
Two people represented North Korea at the 2018 Winter Paralympics: Kim Jonghyon and Ma Yuchol.
Ma Yuchol was a student studying physical education. When she was 5 years old, she was in a car accident. Because of the accident, doctors had to remove her foot. She used to play table tennis and won a silver medal at the 2013 Asian Youth Para Games. Kim Jonghyon also used to play table tennis and was a student.
North Korea, along with Georgia and Tajikistan, made their first appearance at the Winter Paralympics in 2018.
Here are the members of "Team North Korea" who took part in the 2018 Games:
| Name | Sport | Gender | Classification | Year of Birth | City of Birth | Events | ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kim Jonghyon | para-Nordic skiing | male | LW12 | 2000 | |||
| Ma Yuchol | para-Nordic skiing | male | LW12 | 1991 | Pyongyang |
Skiing at the Paralympics
Our Skiers
Kim Jonghyon and Ma Yuchol were the two North Korean skiers. They first competed internationally at the 2018 Paralympic Nordic Skiing World Cup in Oberried, Germany, in January 2018. Before that, they trained at a national team camp near Frankfurt. In December 2017, they worked with a Canadian coach at a training camp in Mount Baektu.
In January 2018, Kim was ranked 59th in the world for cross-country skiing in the men's sitting race. Ma was ranked 58th in the world for the same event.
Race Schedule
On March 12, the 15 km race took place. Women who were standing or had vision problems started at 10:00 PM.
The sprint classic qualification races happened on March 14 from 10:00 AM to 11:25 AM. This was for both men and women in all classes. The semifinals and finals followed in the afternoon.
The classic race took place on March 17. The race for standing and visually impaired women was from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
Images for kids
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The Unification flag of Korea, used by North and South Korea when competing together.
Related pages
See also
In Spanish: Corea del Norte en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pyeongchang 2018 para niños
