Coreia do Norte: Judoca preso quer vingança

[Judo Pitbull 0]

Meus amigos, perdoem-me mas vou ter de colocar o texto em inglês pois estou no trabalho e esta semana está apertada.

Basicamente fala da histórica de um judoca da Coreia do Norte que venceu as Universiadas (Jogos Olimpicos Universitários), foi medalhado num Mundial Sénior e nos Jogos Asiáticos, mas que quando perdeu a final nesses mesmos Jogos Asiáticos para um judoca Sul Coreano, passou de heroi a vilão... perdeu todos os benificios (casa e carro) e foi enviado para um Gulag (campo de trabalhos forçados).

Vale a pena ler para recordar o que foram os anos 70 e 80, onde URSS e EUA encontraram no desporto olimpico e mundial um novo campo de batalha.

Foram tempos em que nos paises comunistas o desporto era o veiculo para uma vida melhor e em diversos casos, para a liberdade através da deserção... como aconteceu aqui com o judoca norte-coreano desta história.

In 1983, a 16-year-old boy joined a North Korean athletic squad, dreaming of becoming an Olympic judo champion but defeat to a South Korean athlete saw him sentenced to hard labour in a coal mine instead.

Now 45-years-old and living as a defector in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Lee Chang-soo is past the age when he can dream of Olympic glory himself, but believes that one of his three sons could claim that title, hopefully by beating an athlete from the reclusive and repressive North.

Lee spoke of his vivid dream that one day one of his sons would win gold medals at the Olympics.

"I want to show them the man that was so tortured has raised his sons this well and will not just stand down. That is a start of my revenge," he said, his accent still flecked with traces of its North Korean origin despite 20 years in South Korea.

At his peak, Lee had enjoyed all the privileges of an elite athlete in a Stalinist country, from Mercedes Benz cars, the prized membership of the Workers Party of Korea and financial rewards.

"There were Benz cars of the latest model awaiting for us. They were for those who won the first place. Everyone was so surprised. Also those who won any medal were given an apartment," said Lee recalling his team's 'glorious return' from Japan's Kobe after winning three gold medals from the 1985 Summer Universiade.

Lee started winning local competitions and swiftly moved on to the international stage, winning a bronze medal at the 1989 World Judo Championships in Yugoslavia and a silver medal at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990.

But with North Korea boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics, Lee missed his chance at the Games and then came disaster in the form of defeat to an athlete from South Korea, a country the North remains technically at war with.

Lee said defeated North Koreans -- especially those who lose to South Koreans -- are forced to work in "gulags" where rights group Amnesty International says 200,000 citizens are forced to work with little food under threat of execution.

"I was sent to a coal mine for the first time because I lost against a South Korean in the Beijing Asian Games. Then I was sent to work in a boiler room just because I talked back to the deputy chairman of the squad," said Lee.

But not all of Lee's luck had run out and he had one admirer who was powerful enough to ensure that the talented athlete could compete again, in the form of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un.

At the time, Jang was practically in charge of the sports department and he was known as a generous boss who helped athletes, although he kept his profile low.

"Athletes liked Jang Song-thaek very much. If they voted for a president, he would be elected," said Lee of the 65-year old who is now vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, the supreme leadership council of North Korea.

Having escaped another trip to the gulag, Lee was in no mood to go back and in 1991 at a competition in Spain chose to defect.

"I was thinking why should I win? If I win a medal, it belongs to North Korea, not me. So I lost on purpose and looked for ways to escape," he said.

Unable to punish Lee directly, the North Korean regime punished his family, sending his older brother to a lumber camp where he died and the rest of his family to a coal mine.

Now married to a former Taiwanese national judoka, whom he met at international games, Lee runs a small judo class where his three sons train.

"I've never regretted coming to South Korea. I will make my sons win an Olympic gold medal and make North Korea the one who regrets."

Hopes are highest for 17-year old Moon-jin, Lee's second son, who won a gold medal at a local youth championships in 2010.

Reuters

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Jailed-for-judo-loss-defector-wants-revenge-vs-North-Korea/tabid/415/articleID/245230/Default.aspx#ixzz1p6V1xZvX

[Gaucho VTS 0]

Eu conversei c os 2 Cubanos campeões de Boxe q fugiram da delegação no PAN

a vida lá é foda

[Allvaro Martins 0]

E ainda tem gente que defende esse tipo de regime. Acham que ser anti EUA justifica qualquer coisa.

[Judo Pitbull 0]

E ainda tem gente que defende esse tipo de regime. Acham que ser anti EUA justifica qualquer coisa.

Melhor é quando vejo tipos aqui na Universidade a defender o Castro, com as suas t-shirts e os seus movimentos "sociais de esquerda"... esquecendo-se que em Cuba iam logo parar ao xilindró...

[Cipó Muay Thai 0]

Eu conversei c os 2 Cubanos campeões de Boxe q fugiram da delegação no PAN

a vida lá é foda

O boxeador cubano Toyo Perez falou o mesmo aqui em Recife...

E ainda tem gente que defende esse tipo de regime. Acham que ser anti EUA justifica qualquer coisa.

Né isso, acham bonito viver em um regime arbitrário, onde a vontade de um idiota pode fazer você andar de Mercedez ou ir para uma mina...

Melhor é quando vejo tipos aqui na Universidade a defender o Castro, com as suas t-shirts e os seus movimentos "sociais de esquerda"... esquecendo-se que em Cuba iam logo parar ao xilindró...

Exatamente.

[Gardenal_JJ 0]

a coreia do norte realmente eh desumana, isso pq n sabemos qse nada sobre o país onde as pessoas sofrem lavagem cerebral...

[Gaucho VTS 0]

Melhor é quando vejo tipos aqui na Universidade a defender o Castro, com as suas t-shirts e os seus movimentos "sociais de esquerda"... esquecendo-se que em Cuba iam logo parar ao xilindró...

foda q até nossos governantes investem NOSSA GRANA Q JÁ É CURTA LÁ

Cuba tá quebrada e nunca dará o retorno financeiro q almejam

[King Kong 0]

quando o ditador morreu lá, ficava mostrando videos das pessoas caindo chorando tudo junto. parecia teatro.

no mais, socialismo é uma merda.