The 1991

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include m ...

were held in Chiba from April 24 to May 6, 1991. North Korea and South Korea fielded a unified team under the name Korea (コリア ''Koria''), the first of all

Unified Korean sporting teams A unified team of North and South Korea has played at certain sports competitions under the name Korea. History Since the conclusion of the Korean War, North and South Korea have existed as separate countries, with both claiming to be the sol ...

. The women's Korean team captured the gold medal by topping China, winners of eight consecutive titles since 1975, 3–2 in the final.

Results

Team

Individual

Unified team of Korea

Prior to the competition,

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

discussed the possibility of the first unified football and table tennis teams since Korea's division. In February 1991, they agreed to the creation of the unified table tennis team to compete at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.사상 최초 남북 단일팀의 통일의 기적 <코리아>
the official blog of the

Ministry of Unification The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung-hee. It gained its ...

, South Korea According to Chang Ung,

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

member from North Korea, the decision took 22 rounds of talks between the Koreas and five months. The team used "Korea" (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: , McCune–Reischauer: ''K'oria'',

Revised Romanization Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Min ...

: ''Koria'',

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: ''Koria'') as the country name avoiding ''Hanguk'' () or ''Chosŏn'' (). It also used the Korean Unification Flag as the national flag and

Arirang "Arirang" (; ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "''Arirang, arirang, arariyo'' ()". It is estimated the song is more than 600 years old. ...

as the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

. Upon defeating the supposedly "unbeatable" Chinese team, the women's team caused a big sensation in Korea. A

n movie ''

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

'' () ("As one") was released on May 3, 2012, and describes the story of the women's team.

Hyun Jung-Hwa Hyun Jung-hwa (; born October 6, 1969 in Busan, South Korea) is a retired table tennis player from South Korea who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics, and in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Career National South Korean table tennis player Hyun Jun ...

was portrayed by

Ha Ji-won Jeon Hae-rim (; born 28 June 1978), better known by her stage name Ha Ji-won () is a South Korean actress. She is best known for the historical dramas '' Damo'' (2003), '' Hwang Jini'' (2006), and '' Empress Ki'' (2013), as well as the melodra ...

and

Li Bun-Hui Li Bun-hui (; born December 29, 1968) is a former table tennis player from North Korea who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Table tennis career She won eight World Table Tennis Championship medals. She won a bronze med ...

by Bae Doona.코리아 - Daum 영화
(from Daum's movie portal)

References

External links

ITTF Museum
{{World Table Tennis Championships World Table Tennis Championships

Table tennis competitions in Japan

Table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...