Mr. Kim Ji Hyon – “We recognized significant development in DPR Korea and boxing is popular in out country”

DPR Korea is a strong and traditional boxing nation in our continent but this is the first time when the country sent athletes to the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships. The DPR Korean boxers were supported by the Thailand Boxing Association to compete in Bangkok with their best youth boxers.
As the DPR Korean officials are in the venue of the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships we asked their General Secretary Mr. Kim Ji Hyon and their Team Manager Mr. Kim Ju Hyok about their boxing life, their opinion about the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships, future goals and national events.
“We prepared three months to the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships after our National Selection Tournament. We hold our selection event with the participation of 60 top boxers and among them we choose the best four to participate in the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships.
Or best hope is Won Un Gyong who was AIBA Women’s Junior World Champion in Taipei three years ago and since then her development was progressive. This ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships is a wonderful event, the organizers did amazing job in Bangkok. The first day was average but the second was delivered better level of boxing and we are satisfied that we can participate here.
Among our goals our plan is to develop the level of our coaches and referees therefore we are hosting the AIBA 1-star Referee & Judge Course in Pyongyang now. We have got more than 4000 boxers, among them 30% are women. Two national events are holding for the juniors every year, three for the youth boxers and three for the elite athletes.
The Mangyongdae Prizes Tournament, the Bochonbo Tournament and National Championships are our main events in DPR Korea. The sport is very popular in North Korea, we recognized significant development in the number of the boxers and the interest to the sport in the recent years.
Our participation in the Ulaanbaatar Box Cup and in the Thailand Open Boxing Tournament is under discussion but we are hoping that we can take part in these important preparation events. Our next main goal is the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games where we will send altogether 9 boxers including 5 men and 4 women.
As a longer future we are focusing to the junior age group which could be our key for the development. We are planning to build up better relationship with AIBA, ASBC and all countries in our continent. Hosting an international event in North Korea could be also amazing in the future,” said Mr. Kim Ji Hyon in the venue of the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships.