From sharing podium to hiding smartphones: NK athletes under watch in Nagoya
North Korea used the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to showcase its prowess in strategic sports on the international stage while promoting national pride and unity at home. But the North Korean athletes in their teens and 20s taking part in the Games have been suppressing their youthful instincts, confined by intensive self-criticism sessions and strict controls while in Japan. According to this newspaper's reporting, the North Korean delegation has, during these Games, been found to hold self-criticism sessions frequently; completely block outside exposure and contact in and around competition venues; and effectively confine athletes to their accommodations outside competition hours. At weightlifting venues, where self-criticism sessions were conducted openly despite the presence of outsiders, as well as at soccer fields, shooting ranges, gymnastics venues and canoe courses, North Korean athletes were isolated from the "exchange and harmony" promoted by the Games. "Even when they stay alongside athletes from other countries at accommodations designated by the organizing committee, North
