Images of Olympic table tennis players from North and South Korea taking a selfie together on the medal podium in Paris went viral in South Korea on Wednesday, celebrated as a rare display of cross-border unity.
Despite North Korea declaring the South its principal enemy earlier this year and heightened tensions between the two nations, the athletes shared a moment of camaraderie. After South Korea won bronze and North Korea took silver in the mixed doubles behind China, South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon captured a group photo following the medal ceremony.
North Korea’s Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, South Korea’s Shin Yu-bin, and the victorious Chinese team Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha all smiled into Lim’s South Korean-made Samsung phone.
“A selfie with both Koreas’ national flags and a Samsung phone,” noted the widely read daily JongAng Ilbo.
This marked the first time North Korea had been on an Olympic podium since 2016, as they skipped the Tokyo Olympics due to the Covid pandemic.
“I congratulated them when they were introduced as silver medalists,” Lim told Korean media after the ceremony.
South Korean broadcasters repeatedly aired footage of the selfie, with many commentators reflecting on the significance of this rare moment of unity.
“This is the true spirit of the Olympics,” remarked one commentator.
Reported By AFP.
