North Korean Athletes Could Face Some Insane Punishments For Taking Selfies at the Olympics

North Korean table tennis players who took selfies with South Korean athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics are reportedly facing thought censorship in Pyongyang. Park Chung Kwon, a South Korea’s People Power Party member, has raised concerns that they might be subjected to “revolutionization” punishments for at least two to three years or even be sent to a political prison camp.

Yonhap News

In an interview on the YTN Radio show News Fighting with Bae Seung Hee, Park discussed one of the Olympics’ memorable moments: the selfie taken by the North and South Korean table tennis players. He said, “It was heartwarming to see the North and South Korean athletes standing together on the podium, smiling, and taking a photo with a Samsung smartphone.”

When asked about the potential repercussions, he explained, “It seems North Korean athletes might face 2 to 3 years of revolutionary discipline, which involves working as laborers in environments similar to farms.” He added, “For more severe cases, the punishment could extend to 10 years of labor re-education, akin to a prison sentence in North Korea.” He also mentioned, “In extreme cases, these athletes might end up in political prison camps.”

Park referenced the 1966 England World Cup, where North Korean soccer players advanced to the quarter-finals and interacted with South Korean players. “They had dinner and drinks together, but many of those players ended up in political prison camps or were expelled upon their return to North Korea,” he said. “Since then, North Korean soccer has declined, often attributed to the mismanagement of the Kim family.”

He voiced concern, stating, “If incidents like this continue, there may come a time when the North Korean regime is unable to send athletes to the Olympics or other international events. Who would want to be a national representative under these circumstances?”

According to a Daily NK report last week, citing a high-level source in Pyongyang, the North Korean Olympic Committee delegation and athletes who returned to Pyongyang on the 15th are currently undergoing a thorough evaluation.

Daily NK also reported that North Korean athletes who compete in international events undergo a three-stage evaluation process. The athletes from this Olympics are expected to face ideological evaluations at three levels: the Central Committee, the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports, and an internal review.

Sources revealed, “The evaluation begins as soon as the athletes return. The goal is to cleanse their ideologies as swiftly as possible.” The term ideological cleansing underscores how North Korea views overseas experience as exposure to contaminating non-socialist influences.

A report detailing negative evaluations of mixed doubles players Ri Jong Sik and Kim Geum Yong, who gained attention for taking selfies with South Korean and Chinese athletes during the Olympics, has been submitted to the party.

In the table tennis mixed doubles event, the silver medalists, Ri Jong Sik and Kim Geum Yong, took a selfie on the podium with South Korean bronze medalists Lim Jong Hoon and Shin Yu Bin and Chinese gold medalists Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, using a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.

This moment was considered a heartwarming highlight, which selected it as one of the top 10 Olympic stories. However, in North Korea, it is viewed as a criticized act.

Sources noted that the report criticized the athletes for smiling in the presence of South Korean competitors, who are designated as the primary adversaries by the regime.

Park graduated from Kim Jong Un Military University and was an elite scientist in North Korea’s ICBM development. After defecting in 2009, he joined Hyundai Motor Company, where he demonstrated his engineering skills.

He was later recruited by the People Power Party (PPP) as a key candidate in the 22nd National Assembly elections and entered the legislature as a proportional representative.