North, South Korea hold historic half-marathon
Posted Tuesday, 29 November, 2005
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Never did Bae Young-kyu think he would be running over this stretch of land.
Bae, the deputy municipal chief of the South Korean town of Inje, is a longtime marathoner. He would have thought it inconceivable he could enjoy a run in North Korea, where his mother was born. She died two years ago, having never seen her hometown since the 1950-53 Korean War.
On Thursday, Bae ran through dense morning fog in Pyongyang with about 140 other South Koreans as the two Koreas held a half-marathon for civilians for the first time in their 60 years of division.
"It was emotional to run here," said the 58-year-old Bae, wearing sunglasses and a blue cap. "The atmosphere was much comfier than the South, as the roads here are broad and the air was less polluted."
The 13.1-mile run Thursday was the latest in a series of exchanges between the Koreas that have flourished since the leaders of the divided states met for the first time five years ago.
The June 2000 summit brought about a sea change in relations between the two countries that share the world's most heavily fortified border. Cold War hatred diminished as people-to-people exchanges increased.
These days, more than 1,000 South Koreans cross the land border every day for sightseeing at the North's scenic Diamond Mountain, and to run factories in the South Korean-run industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
Two sets of severed cross-border road and rail links are almost restored, though their formal opening is delayed mainly because of the political tensions that still loom over the peninsula amid an international standoff over the North's nuclear programs.
Reunification was the main theme of Thursday's marathon. "Fatherland Unification!" shouted some North Korean citizens while waving to South Korean runners on 10-lane boulevards -- named the "Road of Liberation" and the "Road of Youth Heroes" -- linking the capital to the adjacent town of Nampo.
Lining the traffic-free roads were gray, aged buildings. Some of them were topped with red-and-white propaganda slogans, such as "Great President, Comrade Kim Il Sung is with us forever," referring to the North's late founding president.
About 50 North Korean citizens took part in the run.
"I believe this will be helpful to reunification," said Chi Hye Ran, a 27-year-old female textile factory worker.
North Koreans swept the two top places in both the men's and women's competitions with times of 1:09:56 and 1:29:19, respectively. Most South Koreans didn't care about times. Rather, they enjoyed the rare opportunity of running through the North's capital.
Buses traveled the course to pick up dropouts. Some exhausted runners boarded, rested and joined the race again. Several people got off the buses just a few miles before the finish line.
Among the South Koreans was Bae Hyong-jin, a 23-year-old amateur marathoner suffering from autism. A movie based on Bae's story, "Marathon," was a big hit in South Korea last year.
"This event has proven that if we unite our strengths, we can do everything and we are not afraid of anything at all," Kim Yong Nam, deputy chief of the North's organizing committee, said at the closing ceremony.
Bae, the deputy municipal chief, said he received a boost from the North Koreans on the streets who waved and cheered.
North Koreans "are all human beings like us," he said. "If we wave first, they wave back and if we show signs of guarding against them, they do the same."
Facebook 
Twitter
i