Short Track Team to Focus on Skating, not Politics

Short Track Team to Focus on Skating, not Politics

Feb. 5, 2007

The Korean women’s short track skating team left for Budapest, Hungary on Sunday for the I SU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series, which opens on Friday.

The group had just returned from upsetting China by raising signs that read “Mt. Baekdu Belongs to Korea” after winning the silver at the Winter Asian Games in the city of Changchun, near the half of the mountain controlled by China.

Jin Sun-yu, who had grabbed the gold medal in the 1,000 m race at the Asiad, was unable to join the squad due to an ankle injury. Kang Yun-mi, her substitute, leaves on Monday.

Korean skaters leave Incheon International Airport on Sunday to participate in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series. (From left) Byun Chun-sa, Kim Min-jung, Jung Eun-ju and Jeon Ji-su.

The skaters looked cheerful at Incheon International Airport, discussing how they will share rooms in Budapest. Few reporters showed up at the airport, perhaps because it was not well know that the team would leave for the championships.

The skaters vowed to concentrate on the upcoming competition without becoming distracted by patriotic issues again. Instead, they pledged to win the gold in the World Cup event to make up for their defeat to China in the Asian Games. “We want to play fair and square again,” Kim Min-jeong said. “I expect Chinese skaters won’t play foul as they did in the Asiad.”

Then, Chinese skaters brazenly shoved their Korean rivals out of the way, apparently confident that that the judges would not make an unfavorable judgment against them. In contrast, Korean skaters were extra careful in the race out of concern that they would be disqualified at the slightest provocation.

A Chinese skater pushes at the leg of Korean skater Jin Sun-yu in the 5,000 m relay race at the Chnagchun Asian Winter Games on Wednesday. Korea won silver, while the gold went to China./Yonhap

The reason they hoisted the sign was simple. They were taken aback when China gave away badges engraved with a picture of the mountain, according to legend the birthplace of the Korean nation. They asked each other why China is claiming what it calls Mt. Changbai when Korea’s national anthem starts with the words, “The East Sea and Mt, Baekdu.”

In fact, they were unaware until then that China has sovereignty over half of the mountain. In addition, some players were frustrated after Korean skater Ahn Hyun-soo was disqualified although he breasted the tape in the final match of the 500 m race on Tuesday, the day before the 3,000 m relay race.

Enraged players in the locker room decided to raise the posters there and then. “We wrote the signs in the locker room without letting coaches and other officials know,” Kim Min-jung said. She denies their action was politically motivated, and says the skaters were embarrassed by the reaction after returning to their quarters.

Online communities were inundated with messages supporting their act, but it triggered a diplomatic protest from China. They were shocked to read news articles on the front page on the plane on their way to Korea. “Although we were short-sighted, we don’t think we did anything wrong,” Kim says. Asked if she regrets the act, Jin Sun-yu said no.

Questioned who initiated the act, the skaters answer in unison that it was their common idea.

China Upset with "Baekdu Mountain" Skaters

 

Source: Chosun.com

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