NORTH KOREA RETURNS TO ALL-AROUND COMPETITION AFTER FIVE YEARS WOMEN’S CHEERLEADING SQUAD ALSO RETURN

North Korea’s return to international competition for the first time in five years saw the return of the North Korean Women’s Cheerleading Team to the stands. The voices of young women chanting “Win, win, win, our players win” could be heard loud and clear at the Zhejiang Normal University East Stadium in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, China, where the North Korean men’s soccer team faced Chinese Taipei in a Group F qualifier for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Sept. 19.Four women in matching mauve shirts and hats chanted together. The North Korean female cheerleaders gazed reverently at the field as the North Korean team made their artificial entrance, then broke into a “one hundred cheers” as the game began .The chants were simple. “Good job, good job, good job, our players,” “Win,” and other chants that were easily understood by both South Koreans and North Koreans. North Korea was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for unilaterally boycotting the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19, and the suspension was lifted on December 31 last year. North Korea has been slowly returning to international competition this year, sending nearly 200 athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games .According to My Info, the official information site of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, North Korea has registered a total of 191 athletes, including 112 women and 79 men, in 18 sports. This is the first time in five years that North Korea has sent a team to a multi-sport event, including the Olympics and Asian Games, since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. Just as important as the athletes, North Korea’s female cheerleaders are back on the international stage. The North Korean women’s cheerleading squad made headlines when they traveled to South Korea to cheer on their country at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, the Daegu Summer Universiade in August 2003, the Incheon Asian Games in August 2014, and the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games also saw mixed-gender North Korean cheering squads .The Hangzhou Asian Games kick off on the 23rd, but men’s soccer began its qualifying schedule on the 19th.Some of North Korea’s female 바카라사이트 cheerleaders also traveled to the stadium to cheer.