The recent historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea raises hopes that we may soon hear more of go in North Korea. Recent internet activity, reported elsewhere on this site, is one reason for optimism. The appearance and success of the North Korean representative in the 22nd World Amateur Championships in Sendai, Tokyo, in June 2000 is another - Pak Ho-kil finished second behind Japan's Sakai Hideyuki. Since Sakai has several professional scalps to his credit, this is a considerable achievement by Pak.

This was not the first appearance of a North Korean in this event, but go has suffered badly in the North because it was long banned as a wicked tool of capitalists and western supremacists, but a change first became apparent in 1989 when the Korean Go Association was set up under the umbrella of the National Sports Federation. This was due to the influence of the Chinese rather than the South Koreans, but go was once again recognised as a traditional game of the people of Korea.

Since then, go activity in North Korea has centred on two main events each year: the Paek-tu-san Tournament(Baegdu Mountain - a tourist site) in February and the National Go Tournament in August. In recent years this activity has been reinforced by the formation of go squads in Youth Palaces, with the best players enjoying visits to the Chinese Go Association.

The first appearance of North Koreans in international go events was in May 1991, when Hong Heui-teok took part in the 13th World Amateur Championships in Kanazawa, Japan. That event naturally saw a historic summit of another kind, for representatives of the two Koreas met for the first time. That game is given here (the opponent, Pak Seong-kyun, was a 35-year-old manager of a children's go school who had just won the national amateur championship).

Hong, rated 6-dan came in a respectable 9th with 5 out of 8. But he was a 47-year-old working in a publishing company in Japan, and though he was allowed to represent his homeland he was not representative of it. Indeed, it is not even clear whether the North Korean government had any say in this, and there are those who regard as the historic North-South game not the one given above but one in the 18th Championship in 1996.

In 1992, at the 14th Championships in Chiba City, the torch was passed to one of the now more typical specially trained youngsters, 13-year-old Mun Yeong-sam. He found the going a little harder and managed just 4 out of 8 and 15th place, but in the 4th Women's World Amateur Championship in October that year, his young compatriot Ch'oe Un-a scored 4 out of 7 in taking 8th place. She had only been playing go for a year and was already rated as 2-dan, even though still only in elementary school in Pyongyang.

Mun Yeong-sam appeared also in the 15th World Amateur, as the second youngest player, and this time moving up to 6th place with 6 out of 8. North Korea then decided to drop out of these international appearances for a while, but 18-year-old Ch'oe Myeong-seon 7-dan turned up in Omachi for the 18th Championship in 1996 (he finished 7th; 5 out of 8). Some regard his game against Yi Yong-man 6-dan here as the first North-South game. Here is that game. Yi won but was surprised how strong Ch'oe was; before the game he had believed that North Korean go was only up to "Kindergarten level". Ch'oe, admittedly, was the youngest competitor that year, aged 14. But he learnt go when he was 8 and in just one year he had outstripped his father, a 5-dan. At that event Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan commented that there was still a lack of stability in Ch'oe's go, but if he could study in the right environment he had the possibility of becoming strong.

Mun, by now a university student and also 7-dan, appeared yet again for the 19th in Sapporo in 1997. On this occasion he achieved a stunning third place with 7 out of 8, losing only to Sakai who placed second after the ex-Chinese pro Liu Jun. But Mun actually beat Liu (here is that game; in that year Liu had already beaten Ma Xiaochun 9-dan and Chang Hao 8-dan). Mun, however, had a disappointing further appearance in the 20th championship (Tokyo, 1998), taking only fifth place with 6 out of 8.

It was now time for him to pass on the torch, and in the 21st World Amateur (Oita; 1999) the North Korean representative was Yi Pong-il, yet another 7-dan and just 19. Clearly North Korean go had developed more than one gifted youngster. (Here is a game by Yi against a European veteran.)

Among the women, the aforementioned Ch'oe Un-a, now 15, is still active and has an 18-year-old rival, Cho Kan-seong.

What makes the achievement of these players more remarkable is that the number of players is the country is tiny, estimated at just 10,000. The North Korea officials who have commented on the situation in their country - though facts are still sparse - seem level headed and inclined to avoid the bluster we normally expect from Communist officials. They put the strength of their best players at no more than 5 or 6-dan by South Korean standards, and say they are still three stones weaker than a pro.

Yet there is clearly talent there, and we must hope that the real summit between President Kim and Chairman Kim will lead to more opportunities for North Korean players. Go matches between Japan and China were an unsung but equally potent way of breaking down political barriers as ping-pong diplomacy. Go, aptly described by Stuart Dowsey as a game of co-existence not war, may also be a way of bringing North and South Korea closer together.