A young North Korean figure skater performs to the song Our Father is Marshal Kim Jong Il at the opening ceremony of the 21st Paektusan Prize International Figure Skating Festival in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. The festival attracted international skaters including Chinese 2010 Winter Olympic gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and three-time world champion Russian Evgeny Plyushchenko. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) (David Guttenfelder)
Figure skater Laura Lepist regrets the distress her trip to North Korea may have caused
Figure figure skater Laura Lepist apologises for the distress that her skating trip to North Korea may have caused.
Last week Lepist took part in an international figure skating festival, the 21st annual Paektusan Festival, in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. “I feel sorry for the confusion and distress that my trip has caused”, Lepist says in a Finnish Figure Skating Association release. Lepistsays that she took part in the North Korean festival on invitation by the Champions On Ice organisation, which organises figure skating events all over the world. Permission for the trip was sought from the Ministry of Education and Culture, which saw no obstacles to her journey. Lepist emphasises that her attendance at the festival was not politically motivated and that she does not support the North Korean dictatorship in any way. Based on the news reported by North Korea’s official news agency, the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, however, it is evident that the figure skating event was used unabashedly to boost the personality cult of the late dictator Kim Jong-il. ”I set out on the journey sincerely hoping to bring joy to that nation, and also, after nearly a year and a half, to seek experiences of what it is like to perform once again in front of a crowd. Only those two things were on my mind. To my regret I have noticed that a completely different kind of interpretation and image has been attached to my trip from what I had in mind”, Lepist states in the release. Lepist hopes that the whole affair could be brought to a conclusion quickly.