culture

With sustained efforts toward victory

Pang Chol Mi, a boxer and People’s Athlete of the Kumgangsan Sports Team, was born into a farmer’s family in Jongju City of North Phyongan Province.

From her childhood she loved sports and dreamed of becoming a judoist.

Following the advice of her instructor at the then Jongju City Extracurricular Juvenile Sports School to play boxing rather than judo in consideration of her constitutional character, Chol Mi began to learn boxing.

Tenacious and competitive, she would actively create opportunities to build her physical strength. One of them was to run 6 km distance from her house to school, declining to stay in the school dormitory.

After becoming a boxer of the Kumgangsan Sports Team, Pang won her first gold medal of the international competitions at the Ulan Bator Cup International Boxing Tournament held in 2017 and became a world champion the following year by winning a title at the IBA World Women’s Boxing Championships in 2018.

And then she earned gold medals at the Asian male and female boxing championships in 2019 and the 19th Asian Games and was also successful at the 33rd Olympic Games.

Her pursuit of victory continued.

She beat her opponent by an overwhelming margin in the final match of the 52kg category at the 2025 IBA World Women's Boxing Championships and was crowned world champion again.

Fighting off debilitating illness

Han Il Ryong is a marathon runner of the Amnokgang Sports Club.

Born to a farmer’s family in Rinsan County of North Hwanghae Province, he learned the rudiments of athletics at the then Rinsan County Juvenile Sports School.

He has always taken first place in the national games during his playing career at the Amnokgang Sports Club as well as his school days.

He suffered from lumbago after participating in the National Championships held a few years ago. He was at a crossroads of abandoning his sporting career or not.

But he, finally, beat the illness and began to run again a few months after that. The following year, he established a national record in the marathon of the National Championships.

His success at the home front led to that at international events.

He finished in the top three in the men's marathon of the 19th Asian Games in 2023 and was selected as one of top ten players of the DPRK for 2023.

Particularly, he set a new championship record to be awarded a gold medal in the men’s marathon of the 20th Asian Marathon Championships in 2025 and won the men’s 5 000m race at the Chinese Taipei Athletics Open 2025.

Two-time world champion

Hong Jin Gyong, a Taekwon-Do player of the South Hwanghae Provincial Taekwon-Do Team, was born in Pongchon County of South Hwanghae Province.

After she began to learn Taekwon-Do, Hong distinguished herself in the national games, attracting the attention of experts.

She made her international debut at the 22nd Taekwon-Do World Championships held in 2023. There she obtained six medals including three golds.

The following year she bagged six medals including five golds at the 10th Asian Taekwon-Do Championships.

She continued to win several events including the women’s individual sparring at the 23rd Taekwon-Do World Championships in 2025 and was awarded seven medals including six golds and the individual technical prize.

She became a two-time world champion by winning the titles at the Taekwon-Do world championships two times in succession.