A wordless meeting of the eyes and a small box of snacks were enough to help a South Korean and a North Korean athlete take two small steps toward friendship.

On July 29, seven days before the opening of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the two female shooting teams, one from South Korea and one from North Korea, held a training session at the same time at the Olympic Shooting Center. Korea's shooters finished training first and shared some snacks with their North Korean counterparts. One of the Southerners, Hwang Seongeun, then approached the North's Jo Yong-sook and handed her a box of cookies. Jo looked around and asked Hwang if she could put the box on the table. There was no hug. There were no handshakes. However, the smile on Hwang's face as she turned back toward her teammates showed that some degree of authenticity had been shared between the two athletes from the two different Koreas.








Not only at the shooting center, but at each of the Olympic venues across Rio de Janeiro, the heartwarming friendship between South Korean and North Korean players has been captured on camera. On July 31, South Korean and North Korean weightlifters exchanged greetings during a training exercise, and on Aug. 1 the two table tennis coaches from South Korea and North Korea even shook hands, sharing polite words between themselves.

With only three days to go until the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5, the harmony and friendship of all the Korean people truly shines at these Olympic Games.

By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Yonhap News, captured from JoongAng Ilbo
icchang@korea.kr