Group pushes for match between two Koreas' football league champs

GOYANG, South Korea, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The chief of a Seoul-based inter-Korean sports exchange promotion group said Tuesday he is trying to stage a match between football league champions from South and North Korea.

Kim Kyung-sung, who leads the South-North Inter-Korean Sports Association, said his organization is working to link South Korea's K League and North Korea's football league.

"We are trying to help economic development and exchanges between the Koreas through sports," Kim said. "Our youth football tournament has completely landed. The next stage is to help exchanges between K League and North Korea's football league and launching a match between the champions of the two leagues."

For next year, Kim said there will be a youth football competition in Wonsan, a North Korean coastal city in Kangwon Province.

"North Korea is building a 20,000-seat football stadium that is expected to be completed by March 2019," he said. "At this stadium, we agreed to hold the Ari Sports Cup youth football tournament from May 20 to 29. Although there is a possibility that the venue can change to Pyongyang due to completion schedule of the stadium, if realized it will be the first sport event in Wonsan unveiled to South Koreans."

Kim, who worked in the insurance industry in the 1990s, established a football center in 2002 in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. He later ran a sports center in Kunming, China, and got closer with North Koreans. He then founded the association in 2006 and actively engaged with exchanges with North Korea.

Since 2006, Kim's organization has hosted a youth tournament for under-15 Korean football players, and the tournament got bigger in 2014, involving more teams from other nations.

The Ari Sports Cup youth football tournament became a stage where officials from the South and the North exchange ideas.

In December 2017, Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon met Mun Ung, a vice-minister-level official who heads North Korea's April 25 Athletic Committee, on the sidelines of the 2017 Ari Sports Cup youth football tournament in Kunming and discussed the North's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the South.

"It was one of the meaningful moments since I started this inter-Korean sports business," Kim said. "It's a tournament that centers on civilians, so we were able to make 'natural' request to North Korea."

Last month, Ari Sports Cup was held in Pyongyang and South Korean athletes crossed the border by land.

"It was the first time in civic-based inter-Korean exchange activity that South Korean athletes visited Pyongyang by crossing the land border," he said. "Next month, the tournament will be held in Gangwon Province, and we'll see three North Korean teams, including April 25 football club."

Kim claimed that his side's project is not only limited to football. He emphasized that the South Korean government's approval is also important to expand inter-Korean sports exchanges, saying that North Korea is ready.

"We're pushing a North Korean football player to sign with Gangwon FC in the K League," he said. "We're also seeking a North Korean boxer to make a pro debut, and stage a marathon competition in April 2019 and an international women's golf competition in August 2019, both in Pyongyang."

Kim claimed that he discussed such issues with high-ranking North Korean officials, although he didn't disclose names.

Kim said civic exchanges need to be further promoted and the government should also support such movements.

"What I heard from North Korean officials is that they trust South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but not the South Korean government," he said. "They said following the change of administrations, North Korean policy changes and some agreements get nullified, so that makes it difficult to build trust. But civic exchanges are different because there's continuity and trust. Whoever runs the government, it can be the channel for inter-Korean dialogue, so its role is very important."

kdon@yna.co.kr
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