Completed - KOREAN - Drama - 130 minutes
Table tennis teams of South and North Korea have never won over Chinese team. Teaming up as a United Korea for the first time in 1991 at the World Table Tennis Championship in Chiba City, Japan makes for moments of crisis and bungled coordination, but game-by-game, North and South become a true team
Year of production : 2012 Director(s) : Hyun-Sung MOON Cast : Doo-Na BAE, Ji-Won HA
South Korean ping-pong star HYUN Jung-hwa and North Korea’s LI Bun-hui have each been defeated by Chinese player DENG Yaping—a.k.a. “The Ping-Pong Witch” —every time they reach a tournament’s finals. Teaming up as a United Korea for the first time in 1991 at the World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba City, Japan makes for moments of crisis and bungled coordination, but game-by-game, HYUN and LI become a true team. But then comes the announcement that the United Korea team will be inexplicably disbanded. On the morning before the women’s doubles finals against China and knowing the Unified Korea team is stronger, HYUN pleads with the coaches and players of the North Korean team to not break them up. She tells them: “I want to play on the United Korea team.” The North Korean side is moved beyond ideology and allows the North Korean players to play on the United Korean team. The women’s doubles team goes on to defeat China in the finals, becoming the first and the last United Korea team ever to win gold.
Country(ies) : KOREA (South)