North Koreans baffled by mushing neighbors
By Jon Herskovitz/n
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea (Reuters) - Neither war, armed troops or befuddled border guards could stop South Korean dog sled teams from going to North Korea and mushing on Sunday where none of them have mushed before.
About 80 dogs from the South made what is almost certainly the largest canine crossing of the heavily armed border for the race at the Mount Kumgang resort, which is run by an affiliate of the South's Hyundai Group.
With nary a snowflake on the course, about 35 dog teams pulled sleds on wheels along a coastal road with the scenic Diamond Mountain range as a backdrop.
No North Koreans competed. The few who saw the race were soldiers standing at wind-swept guard posts.
In the impoverished north, dogs are known as man's best friend for very different reasons than the West.
"The North Koreans think dogs are for eating, and not for sport," said Yunis Cho, one of the South Korean dog sled racers.
The Kumgang resort is supposed to be a place that brings people closer together from the two countries that technically have not ended their 1950-1953 war.
But the dog race showed just how far they have drifted apart.
North Korea is one of the world's most isolated and poorest states where dog sledding is unknown, and expensive hobbies like it are unthinkable.
In the affluent South, some people pay sums greater than the average annual wage of a North Korean worker for a pedigree pooch.
As South Koreans grow richer and worldlier, sports like dog sledding are taking off, with many mushers saying they were first exposed to it through events like Alaska's famed Iditarod race.
CONFUSION
It took years of planning to hold a race in North Korea, but that did not prevent confusion at the border where the North's quarantine inspectors tried to figure out what to make of the canine cargo.
"They don't know about foreign dogs, especially huskies, malamutes or borzoi. They have only seen Korean breeds," said Kim Tae-ryong, president of the South's Korea Federation of Sleddog Sports.
The dogs spent the night before the race in cages outside one of the South Korean-run hotels in Kumgang howling at the moon and barking at tour buses.
Kim said the race in the North would help bring attention to the sport in the South while also introducing it to their Korean brothers across the border.
Lee Ki-woon, who is one of the few people in South Korea who breeds the North Korean dog called "poongsan", took two of the snow white canines to Kumgang.
"It probably feels like a homecoming for them," Lee said, but when one of the dogs broke out of his collar and ran freely before his owner rounded him up, it looked more like a defection.
North Korean workers who are being watched by the country's spy apparatus to make sure they do not become too cordial with South Koreans, mostly kept their lips sealed about the competition.
Apart from the typical, "No comment," one brave North Korean went as far as to say: "I like dogs."
(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
North Koreans baffled by mushing neighbors
| International
| Reuters