Koreas begin playing basketball friendlies in latest peace gesture

The rival Koreas on July 4 began two days of friendly basketball games in Pyongyang in their latest goodwill gesture amid a diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea.

Players from North and South Korea were mixed into two teams that competed against each other at the North Korean capital’s Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium.

A capacity crowd of 12,000 at the arena applauded as the two women’s teams — dressed in white jerseys that read “Peace” and green jerseys that read “Prosperity” — marched onto the court holding hands. Team Prosperity defeated Team Peace 103-102, with North Korea’s Ro Suk Yong scoring 18 points, according to pool reports. The game between the men’s mixed teams that followed ended in a 102-102 tie.

The South Koreans will play against the North Korean men’s and women’s teams on July 5 before returning home on July 6.

The games precede a visit to North Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for meetings over the future of the North’s nuclear program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a noted basketball fan, didn’t appear at the gymnasium on July 4. It wasn’t clear whether he would attend on July 5.

“Once they started playing, the players showed quick chemistry and I was proud of them,” said Lee Moon-kyu, the head coach of South Korea’s women’s team, who will also lead a combined Koreas team at the Asian Games next month in Indonesia. Lee, who plans to bring two or three North Korean players to the Asian Games, said he was impressed with “No. 9 and No. 7 on Team Peace,” referring to North Korea’s Ri Jong Ok and Jang Mi Kyong.

North Korea’s sports minister, Kim Il Guk, said in a speech that the games reflect the “revered determination of the leaders of the North and South to bring forward the future of a self-reliant unification.”

The South Korean delegation, including 50 players and government officials, arrived in Pyongyang on July 3 on two military aircraft.

KOREA POOL VIA AP South and North Korean players of Team Peace, in white, and Team Prosperity play during a friendly game July 4 at Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium in Pyongyang, North Korea.