North’s cheerleaders depart with stacks of gifts and in tears

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North’s cheerleaders depart with stacks of gifts and in tears

DAEGU ― 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.
The North Korean athletes departed earlier in the day.
“We are returning home with the political gold medals around our necks by defending the banner of the two Koreas’ cooperation amid the complications,” Jang Jong-nam, leader of the North Korean athletes, said in a departure statement. “Conservatives attempted to drive us out from Daegu by engaging in dirty tricks and plots, but we exercised our patience to wrap up the games fruitfully.”


by Ser Myo-ja
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