Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports of the DPRK

So Un Hak, a People’s Athlete, is a weightlifting coach of the April 25 Combat Sports Team.

After graduating from Korea University of Physical Education, he started his coaching career in 2003 and, after only five years, he was awarded the title of Merited Athlete. He was selected as one of the top ten coaches of the DPRK in 2024 and 2025.

Over the past 20 years, he has trained his players well to exalt the dignity and honour of the country with successes at international games.

Under his guidance, O Jong Ae won a silver medal in the women’s weightlifting 58kg event of the 29th Olympic Games and Jong Chun Hui, Ri Hyon Hwa and other players achieved successful results at international sporting events.

In those days he took part in the Seventh National Conference of Sportspeople and had a significant photo taken with the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

With a resolve to repay the love and trust with great achievements in work, he devoted his all to attaining a higher goal.

He took charge of Kim Il Gyong and improved her physical and technical abilities in a short span of time, thus helping her achieve good results in the women’s 53kg category of the 2017 World Junior Weightlifting Championships after just four years as a professional player. He proved himself to be a competent coach by making Kim win golds in all of jerk, snatch and total at the Asian Juvenile and Junior Weightlifting Championships in 2018 and 2019.

He gave spurs to training with an eye on the world championship, with the result that Kim became a world champion at the IWF World Championships in 2024 and 2025.

Having won the title of People’s Athlete last year, So is now devoting his all to the development of weightlifting techniques to add glory to this significant year with a greater victory.

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Ri Suk, a People’s Athlete and two-time world champion, is a student at the weightlifting department of the combat sports faculty of Central Sports School.

Born into an ordinary doctor’s family in Waudo District, Nampho, she was already good at sports in her childhood and drew attention of instructors of various sports for her physical constitution suitable for sports.

She started weightlifting in her teens and learned the basic techniques at Central Sports School.

After acquiring high technical skills under the guidance of Jon Song Hui, Ri made her international debut at the 2018 Asian Juvenile and Junior Weightlifting Championships, where she surprisingly won six gold medals in the snatch, jerk and total.

Later, she won three gold medals at the 2019 Asian Juvenile and Junior Weightlifting Championships and renewed a world record in jerk and bagged three golds in the 2023 IWF Grand Prix. She overcame the ever-intensifying training course with a persevering will and won three golds at the 2024 Asian Weightlifting Championships. She renewed world records in jerk and total at the 2024 IWF World Championships and became a world champion.

Bearing in mind the great love and trust of the Workers’ Party which put her forward as a People’s Athlete, she set new world records with 111kg in snatch, 142kg in jerk and 253kg in total and won three gold medals at the 2025 IWF World Championships, thus fully demonstrating her competence as a weightlifting ace.

Kim Il Gyong, a weightlifter of the April 25 Combat Sports Team, won a gold medal in the 2017 World Junior Weightlifting Championships in her teens.

She was born and grew up in Pyongyang and began to learn the basic techniques of weightlifting from her childhood.

She is an introverted girl in daily life, but once she enters the training ground, she turns into a fiery enthusiast struggling hard to attain the training goal with a persevering and diligent spirit.

She was honoured to take part in the Eighth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union (KCU) and make a speech there. She also achieved successes in the 2018 Asian Juvenile and Junior Weightlifting Championships and the 2019 Asian Juvenile and Junior Weightlifting Championships.

She surprised experts and fans again by participating in the women’s weightlifting 59kg event of the 19th Asian Games. Later, she retained her fame as a world-class weightlifter in subsequent international games.

In particular, she set new world records in jerk and total and bagged three gold medals in the women’s 59kg category at the 2024 IWF World Championships, by giving full play to her explosive power.

In order to prove herself worthy of the trust and expectations of the Party which put her forward as a winner of the Kim Il Sung Children Honour Prize and the title of People’s Athlete, she put greater spurs to training and won three gold medals at the 2025 IWF World Championships.

Ri Suk and Kim Il Gyong are now devoting their patriotic efforts to training with the determination to glorify the honour of the country by defending their titles recognized by the world weightlifting circles and winning gold medals in international games.

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At the 14^th Asian acrobatic gymnastics championships, DPRK players set the top records in the history of the championships.

They were Ro Hye Song and Ryu Il Chon who won gold medals in three categories of mixed modelling duo and emerged as Asian champions.

They recorded the highest scores in the history of the event in the balance, speed and mixed categories of mixed modelling duo to demonstrate the developing aspects of acrobatic gymnastics of Juche Korea.

Ro Hye Song is a veteran gymnast of the Ministry of Commerce sports club, who has been successful at international and national games over the past ten-odd years.

Since she won a gold medal in the women’s modelling duo of a competition held in April 2015, she has won 20 golds in the national games. In 2019, she bagged a gold medal in the women’s modelling duo at the 11^th Asian acrobatic gymnastics championships, before winning the title of Merited Athlete.

She won two bronze medals in mixed modelling duo at the 29^th FIG world acrobatic gymnastics championships in 2024 and won three golds after recording the highest scores in the championships history at the 14^th Asian acrobatic gymnastics championships last year.

Ryu Il Chon is a player of the Ryesonggang sports club.

He began his career as an acrobatic gymnast in 2012 and cut a brilliant figure two years later.

Ryu, who is dominating the men’s modelling duo event in the national arena after taking the first place in the event in 2021, won over 50 medals including 25 golds at national games.

With a great speed power and absolute strength as well as high enthusiasm for training, he paired with Ro Hye Song last year and fully displayed his skills and potentials.

They completed difficult world-class movements in a matter of six months and exerted themselves to perfectly perform them, and thus became Asian champions in mixed modelling duo.

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Won Myong Gyong at the Jangsan Sports Club is the winner of the women’s 50kg category event of the 2025 World Wrestling Championships.

Born in Sinam District of Chongjin City in North Hamgyong Province, she was fond of sports in her childhood.

She was selected as a reserve wrestler of the Jangsan Sports Club in her young age and there she learned the rudiments of the sport.

Kim Hak Won, coach of the club in charge of her training, recalled that it was hard to find such player as Won who underwent training and controlled her weight every day without skipping even for a day all through those years.

Once Myong Gyong was going to take up other sport, as it was so difficult to control her body weight.

But her father who served the army in his youth scolded her severely when she returned home. Saying that it is not so easy to exalt the honour of the country, he told his daughter never to think of returning home before succeeding in wrestling.

At her father’s admonition, she braced herself and made a fresh start.

Her persevering efforts enabled her to be picked as a national team member soon after she began her career and she became physically stronger and acquired high skills as she participated in different international games.

She was placed third at the 2025 Asian Wrestling Championships in March last year and trained hard with a determination to win without fail the 2025 World Wrestling Championships.

She took part in the women’s 50kg category event of the 2025 world championships and overpowered all her opponents to become a world champion.

It took her less than six months to possess the skills to cope with any game situations, because she exerted herself to attain her highly set training goals.

Like this, her firm resolution to repay the love and trust of the motherly Workers’ Party of Korea with gold medals and her persevering practice bore the proud fruit of winning the world championship.

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Pak Song Jin was the chief coach who led the DPRK team to win 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

He is a football coach of the April 25 Sports Team.

He became a coach of women’s football in 2012 and contributed to the DPRK team’s winning the 2014 AFC U-14 girls’ regional championships.

He played a decisive role in making the DPRK women’s football team finish in the top three at the 2019 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship and the 19th Asian Games.

After being appointed chief coach of the DPRK team for the U-17 Women’s World Cup last year, Pak made great efforts to form the team properly first of all.

He tested dozens of footballers selected from each sports club through several stages to choose over 20 from among them and made efforts to complete a firm game plan for individual players to fully display their merits. He paid attention to ensuring that all tactical training was done in an actual match atmosphere, including making side and half-side breaks and scoring by central breaks, sudden counterattacks into the rear space of the opponent and tactical ploys in standard circumstances, and maximized the effectiveness of training by combining intensity-centred physical training, psychological practice and intelligence development practice.

He also put great efforts into improving the mental strength and teamwork of the players and thus improved the team’s physical, technical and tactical abilities a level higher in a short span of time.

From the first of the group league matches of the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup held in Morocco, he skilfully led the players to stage continued attacks without giving the opponents a moment to breathe while speeding up the game through teamwork and thus win all matches.

Though it was their international debut, they won all the seven matches of the competition, scoring 25 goals to fully demonstrate their ability as the strongest team in the world.

Pak is still making increasingly exact demands on himself for training more women footballers to add lustre to the dignity of the country and contributing to the development of football techniques.

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The DPRK footballers Yu Jong Hyang and Kim Won Sim are the best players of the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The winner of the Golden Ball and Adidas Golden Boot is Yu Jong Hyang who made the first goal in the first of the group league matches.

Yu is a footballer of the April 25 Sports Team.

She started to learn football at the extracurricular sports school of Phyongsong Youth Stadium and made a positive contribution to her team’s winning football matches at the national games of extracurricular sports schools.

Every day she wrote in her diary her will to become a world-famous footballer and a football star to bring honour to the country.

She scored eight goals at the world cup, setting the same record as the previous one of individual top scorer established at the women’s world cup.

Kim Won Sim, winner of the Silver Ball and Adidas Silver Boot, is a student of Pyongyang International Football School.

Born in Ryonggang County, Nampho Municipality, Kim was called football prodigy in her childhood.

She played football with elder brothers and even on rainy days she never hesitated to go to the training ground.

Valuing her unusual talent, the country saw to it that she learned to her heart’s content at Pyongyang International Football School.

Gifted with a good brain and agility and good at shooting, she set a record of scoring most quickly at the competition.

She scored the first goal in the match with the Japanese in 38 seconds after the kickoff.

Both the forwards contributed to their team’s winning the competition together with their fellows. 

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In the ITTF Asian Para Championships 2025 held in China in October, Kim Yong Rok, table tennis player of the Korea Sports Association of the Disabled, took the first place in the MS7.

Born in Chollima District, Nampho, he was good at studying and singing from his childhood.

At that time, he dreamed of becoming a soldier of the Korean People’s Army to defend the motherland.

However, at the age of 11, he lost his both hands and large parts of his arms in an accident. He was so dispirited that he gave up his dream and ideal.

But the disabled boy could study to his heart’s content receiving new uniforms and school things like normal children under the care of the socialist state.

One day when he was 20 years old, he happened to go to a stadium with the help of his caring friends and played table tennis for the first time, fixing a racket to his arm with an elastic band.

That day, he came to know that table tennis games for disabled persons like him and amateurs are held every year and thought that he could take up the sport.

As he eagerly started learning table tennis, his life changed. His face brightened and even his manner of walking got vigorous. Many table tennis amateurs gave bountiful aids to the disabled young man and his skills improved quickly day by day.

One year later, he took the first place in the men’s singles at the table tennis games of disabled persons and amateurs held in Nampho.

Thanks to the loving care of the socialist country, he became a table tennis player of the Korea Sports Association of the Disabled and could further realize his wish and display his talents.

Since 2016, he has triumphed in the table tennis games of disabled persons and amateurs every year. He snatched his first gold medal in the men’s doubles at the ITTF Asian Para Championships 2019.

He was awarded the Kim Il Sung Youth Honour Prize.

In those days, he cherished a precious dream and ideal that he would add honour to the motherland and exalt the DPRK flag by winning more gold medals in international games with his two handless arms.

To realize his beautiful dream and ideal, he trained harder and took the first places in men’s doubles (TT7) of the ITTF World Para Future Taipei 2025 and in men’s singles (TT7) of the ITTF World Para Challenger Kaohsiung 2025 and won a gold medal in the MS7 at the ITTF Asian Para Championships 2025 to bring pleasure to the motherland.

Today, he is exerting himself to return the favour shown by the motherland which translated his dream and ideal into reality.

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DPRK player Choe Il Son was awarded the AFC Youth Player of the Year (Women) at the AFC Awards Riyadh 2025 held in Saudi Arabia.

She was born as the eldest daughter of an ordinary family in Kwail County, South Hwanghae Province.

She began to learn the ABC of football in a soccer class of Sinsong Primary School in Kwail County when she was nine years old and cut a conspicuous figure in the football group of Kwail County Extracurricular Sports School.

She entered Pyongyang International Football School under the loving care of the Workers’ Party of Korea and further developed her talent while learning the basic techniques of football.

Choe was quick-witted and enthusiastic from her childhood, always taking the lead in the study.

Even now, her villagers recall that she was kicking a ball in a bag on her way to and from school and the instructor of Kwail County Extracurricular Sports School recollects her who opened her books and studied on the bus when they were going for itinerant training.

Choe became a football player of the April 25 Sports Team as she wished after graduating from Pyongyang International Football School and trained hard in the training ground, being fully aware that she should repay the country only with gold medals for bringing her up as an honourable sportswoman in its warm embrace.

Therefore, as she took part in the 2024 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, she scored the thrilling opener in the semi-final with fast dribbling and a free kick and then responsibly provided other player with a chance for the second goal, thus greatly contributing to beating the rival team.

At the 2024 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, she also made a great contribution to the team's lifting the trophy with a decisive pass to Jon Il Chong for goal in the final.

In particular, at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup finals she contributed to the team's victory with her excellent scores in the semi-final and final and won the Golden Ball, the best player award, and the Golden Boot, the top scorer award.

Choe, along with the members of the U-20 women's football team, was honoured to have a photo taken with the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un on September 30 last year and three months later, she had the greatest honour to meet him again with the U-17 women footballers.

Today, she is engrossed in training to attain greater successes, cherishing the love and trust of the respected General Secretary.

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