NEW YORK TIMES: PYONGYANG, North Korea: …
For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10K race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital. The races were a part of the April 15 birthday celebration of Kim Il-sung, the former leader of North Korea and father of his successors: Kim Jong-il, a son, and Kim Jong-un, a grandson…
Tour operators and Korean guides offered several possible explanations: North Korea desperately needed hard currency from expanded tourism. It was attempting to generate mass interest in recreation. It was using sport to try to rehabilitate an “axis of evil” image of nuclear antagonism and widespread human rights abuse that, according to a 2013 United Nations report, included secret prison camps, torture, forced starvation and a paucity of free thought…
The portable toilets familiar at most marathons were also absent. Discreet signs directed runners to bathrooms near the course. One was on the second floor of a building, another through a sundry shop, a restaurant and a karaoke bar… (more)
