Tuesday, September 02, 2003
With many in tears, North Korea’s cheerleaders who came for the youth games in Daegu returned home yesterday accompanied by a 5-ton-truck full of gifts.North Korean athletes, on the other hand, returned home with what they claimed were “political gold medals,” as well as three actual gold medallions from the 2003 Summer Universiade.
The cheerleaders wept openly at the farewell party, held at the Daegu Bank training center. “We are the brethren. Be well, and let’s meet again,” Jo Son-hwa, a dance-major university student from Pyeongyang, wrote in the guest book.
South Korean volunteers who had served the visitors throughout the sports festival, cried along with the group of 300 girls.
The cheerleaders and brass band members flew to Pyeongyang in the afternoon with mounds of gifts that included clothes, watches and sunglasses.