North Korean weightlifter Ri Song-gum won gold in Nagoya, Japan, on the 23rd after setting 3 new world records.
She also achieved 3 consecutive Asian Games victories in the women’s 49㎏ category.
At a news conference, questions were at one point halted over the designation “North Korea.”
3-Line Summary
1. Ri Song-gum won gold in the 49㎏ weightlifting category
2. She broke the world records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total
3. The news conference was halted over the issue of the country’s designation
World Records of 94㎏, 121㎏, and a 215㎏ Total
On the 23rd, Ri Song-gum recorded a 94㎏ snatch, a 121㎏ clean and jerk, and a 215㎏ total in the final of the women’s 49㎏ weightlifting category at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Nagoya Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Hall in Japan. All 3 records were new world records.
Munhwa Ilbo and KBS News reported that Ri Song-gum broke the world records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total, respectively. After successfully lifting 90㎏ in her first snatch attempt, she lifted 94㎏, and in the clean and jerk, she secured the gold medal with 116㎏ before also succeeding with 121㎏.
With this victory, Ri Song-gum earned the 3rd consecutive gold medal in the women’s 49㎏ category at the Asian Games. The key point of this result was that she changed the records in all 3 events simultaneously in a single competition. This was because she left the highest marks in all 3 standards of weightlifting performance: the snatch, clean and jerk, and total—not just the gold medal.
A 2-Gold-Medal Weightlifting Run Following North Korea’s First Gold
Ri Song-gum’s gold medal was the North Korean delegation’s first gold medal at these Games. According to an Yonhap News report, North Korea secured 2 gold medals in weightlifting after Kang Hyon-gyong also won the women’s 53㎏ category on the same day.
Ri Song-gum’s records also provided a performance-based example of the assessment that North Korea is strong in weightlifting. The North Korean delegation had not won a medal through the previous day, but Yonhap reported that it rose to a tie for 9th in the overall standings as of the 23rd, helped by victories in 2 weightlifting categories.
After the competition, Ri Song-gum said, in essence, that she wanted to repay the expectations of her country and its people through the gold medal and world records. Judging solely by athletic performance, the stage that changed the North Korean delegation’s trajectory early in these Games was the 2 women’s weightlifting categories.
News Conference Question Halted over the Designation “North Korea”
At the medalists’ news conference held after the awards ceremony, a South Korean reporter used the expression “North Korea” while asking about the significance of the North Korean delegation’s first gold medal. Munhwa Ilbo and KBS News reported that the question was halted after an official from the North Korean team demanded that the designation be stated correctly.
The reporter later changed the designation to “Korea” and asked a question with the same intent, but the North Korean side did not answer. Ri Song-gum did answer other questions about her thoughts on the world records and gold medal, as well as the secret to her victory.
The North Korean side has demanded the use of the formal country name, “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” when calling the delegation. Separate from the athletic result of breaking records, the news conference remained a scene that revealed the North Korean side’s sensitivity to the country’s designation at the official venues of international competitions.
References
Tags #RiSonggum #RiSonggumWorldRecords #Women’sWeightlifting #Weightlifting49kg #AsianGames #AichiNagoyaAsianGames #Nagoya #NorthKoreanWeightlifting #WorldRecord #WeightliftingGoldMedal #AsianGames3StraightTitles #NorthKoreanDelegation