North Korean shooter Kim Song-guk took the bronze medal in the men's 50m pistol at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, while South Korea's Jin Jong-oh won the gold.
And Kim believes one Korea would have made these medals a much bigger deal.
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Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald |
"If the two become one, then we'd have one big medal at hand," Kim said at a press conference at Olympic Shooting Center, after winning North Korea's third medal at these Games. "And if we have the gold medal and the bronze medal both came from one Korea, then it'd be something bigger."
It was a rare occasion for a North Korean athlete to comment on the divided peninsula at an international sporting event.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended on an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Kim is the third North Korean shooter to win an Olympic medal, after Kim Jong-su won bronze in the men's 50m pistol in 2004 and Ri Ho-jun won gold in the men's rifle prone in 1972.
Kim Song-guk said he was "disappointed" he couldn't hold on to his lead.
"It is only gold (that matters). I didn't do as well as expected," he said. "It is my first Olympics and I feel I am not up to standard yet. I didn't score as well here as I had in practice."
He also congratulated Jin on his gold medal.
"Jin Jong-oh is an world-renowned shooter," Kim said. "I'll train with a goal of catching him and try to win the gold later." (Yonhap)
