Hwang Bo-young (L), a North Korean defector who was a member of the North Korean National female ice hockey team, prepares for practice with South Korean teammates on March 13, 2006 in Seoul, South Korea. Young, 27-years-old, became a captain of the South Korean National Female Ice Hockey Team. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Participants enjoy mud during the 14th Annual Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach on July 16, 2011 in Boryeong, South Korea. The mud, which is believed to have beneficial effects on the skin due to its mineral content, is sourced from mud flats near Boryeong and transported to the beach by truck. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Actress Oh In-Hae and director Ahn Sang-Su arrives for the opening ceremony of the 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) during the press conference at the Busan Cinema Center on October 6, 2011 in Busan, South Korea. The biggest film festival in Asia showcases 307 films from 70 countries and runs from October 6-14. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Young South Korean models, with wearable computers, walk the cat walk during the Ubiquitous Fashionable Computer Fashion Show on November 17, 2006 in Goyang, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his wife Ri Sol Ju and Song Tao, head of the International Department of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, applaud with ballet dancers in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 17, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/KCNA)

A dog is kept at a pen at the newly opened Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, August 23, 2016. One of the most popular attractions at the zoo might come as a surprise to foreign visitors. Just across the way from the hippopotamus pen and the reptile house, dozens of varieties of dogs, including schnauzers, German shepherds, Shih Tzus and Saint Bernards – are on display in the “dog pavilion”. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Airborne Brigade soldiers board a CH-47 helicopter for parachute drop training during their military drill at Higashifuji training field in Susono, west of Tokyo, July 8, 2013. Japan faces increasingly serious threats to its security from an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea, a defence ministry report said on Tuesday, as ruling politicians call for the military to beef up its ability to respond to such threats. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Yedam Kim (L) and Chaewon Kim, both of South Korea, look at a smartphone backstage after performing on stage during the first day of the 51st Prix de Lausanne at the Theatre de Beaulieu, in Lausanne, Switzerland, 30 January 2023. (Photo by Laurent Gillieron/EPA)