North Korean Marathon (Read 124 times)

I never knew there was such a thing. Anyone know if it's ever been broadcasted?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/high-fives-presidential-portraits-pyongyang-marathon-073309968--spt.html

Excerpt:

Pyongyang (AFP) - "Hundreds of foreigners lined up in Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Stadium on Sunday for the city's annual marathon, the highlight of the tourism calendar in isolated North Korea.

The 40,000-plus capacity ground was packed for the event, the crowd warmly applauding as the runners gathered on the artificial pitch, with portraits of the North's founding father Kim Il-Sung and his late son and heir Kim Jong-Il smiling down benignly from the roof.

The event is part of the commemorations for the anniversary of Kim Il-Sung's birth on April 15, 105 years ago, and a row of dignitaries sat in a VIP section -- at least four of them in military uniform.

Nearly 2,000 people entered the event, more than half of them foreigners -- mostly Europeans and other Westerners.

They took part even though the North is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and Washington is diverting a carrier strike group towards the Korean peninsula as tensions mount."