Singapore, July 30, 2025: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea divers have made their mark on the World Aquatics Championships with two medals in Singapore.
Although they have been unable to break China’s grip on the gold medals – and they are not alone in this – the North Korean squad has won silver and bronze to stand joint 18th in the medal rankings.
Their silver medals came in the mixed 10m synchro on July 27 through Choe Wi Hyon, 17, and Jo Jin Mi, 20. The couple scored 322.98 points, just 0.06 points behind China’s champions Zhu Yongxin, 21, and 15-year-old Xie Peiling, who won gold with 323.04.
DPRK followed this with bronze medals in the women’s 10m synchro on July 28, again with Jo in the mix. Her partner was Kim Mi Hwa, 23.
China’s Zhang Minjie and Chen Yuxi took gold with 349.26 points, 44.46 ahead of Mexico’s silver medallists Alejandra Estudillo Torres and Gabriela Agundez Garcia with 304.80.
Kim and Jo scored 293.34, 55.92 points behind China, in taking bronze and their second medal of the World Aquatics Championships Singapore 2025.
Speaking after their bronze medal, Kim said: “Unfortunately, we made some mistakes. I want to do better next time and work harder for better results. We came aiming for a bigger goal, but the results left us with some disappointment.”
Jo, who had been a silver medalist in Doha 2024 and the 2024 Paris Games with a different partner, Kim Mi-Rae, added: “I still feel like our skills are lacking. We need to train more and work towards getting first place in the future.”
The 22nd World Aquatics Championships are taking place from July 11 to August 3 featuring all six disciplines: swimming, open water, diving, high diving, artistic swimming and water polo.