This year's World University Games, held in the South Korean city of Taegu from Aug. 21 to 30, drew a record 7,000 young athletes from 174 countries. The Games also drew daily Japanese media coverage, with some news shows running lengthy special reports on all the excitement in Taegu.
However, none of this excitement had anything to do with sports.
In fact, the competitions didn't receive any air time. The only thing that was covered was the 300 young North Korean women who acted as cheerleaders for their country's athletes. These women, who in Japan are called the bijo gundan (army of beautiful women), held both the South Korean and Japanese media captive with their looks, even as they perplexed them with their behavior.