Day: August 18, 2023

North Korean taekwondo athletes and officials were traveling through Beijing on Friday morning, apparently the country’s first delegation to travel abroad since the nation closed its borders in early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group of around 80 men and women wearing white track suits with “Taekwondo-Do” printed on the back and the North Korean flag on the front were in the departure hall of Beijing’s international airport checking in and walking to customs. They reportedly arrived Wednesday or Thursday.

The group was expected to take an Air Astana flight to Kazakhstan to compete at the International Taekwon-do Federation World Championships, according to Japanese and South Korean media. The competition is being held in Astana through Aug. 30.

North Korea has extremely limited air connections at the best of times and travel all but ended when Pyongyang closed the national borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. How badly North Koreans were affected by the illness is unknown, since most of the country’s 26 million people have no access to vaccines, lack basic health care and are restricted from sharing information with the outside world.

In September 2022, North Korea resumed freight train service with China, its biggest trading partner and economic pipeline.

On Thursday, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that North Korea is preparing to further reopen its border gradually as part of its efforts to revitalize its struggling economy.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that North Korea’s economy shrank each year in 2020-22 and its gross domestic product last year was 12% less than in 2016, according to Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended the briefing.

The apparent resumption of travel came as the U.N. rights chief, Volker Türk, told the first open meeting of the U.N. Security Council since 2017 on North Korean human rights that the country was increasing its repression and people were becoming more desperate, with some reported to be starving as the economic situation worsens.

Türk said North Korea’s restrictions are even more extensive, with guards authorized to shoot any unauthorized person approaching the border and with almost all foreigners, including U.N. staff, still barred from the country.
…

Australia already captivated a nation as co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup. Now there’s one more thing to play for, even if it’s not the fairytale ending the team had wanted for this tournament.

The Matildas play Sweden on Saturday for third place in Brisbane. Australia lost 3-1 to England in the semifinals on Wednesday, dashing hopes of playing in the title match.

“I know we’ve got the support of everyone, I know that they’re still going to come out to the game against Sweden,” midfielder Katrina Gorry said. “I know they’re always going to have our backs, but yeah, it’s just disappointing. You never want to do that on home soil.”

Indeed, the fans came out for the Matildas during their World Cup journey.

Bars and restaurants were packed around Sydney and there were live watching parties across the country for the semifinal. The sold-out crowd at Stadium Sydney was announced at 75,784, with even more gathered outside.

Australia’s men’s basketball team, the Boomers, were slated to play a tune-up game against Brazil on Wednesday night in preparation for their World Cup but moved the game up two hours to watch the Matildas in the semifinals.

Despite star Sam Kerr’s stunning goal for the hosts, the team couldn’t get by England. Even after the disappointing loss, a sign in a shop window on Sydney’s George Street read “Thank you Matildas.”

“Hopefully this has been life-changing for women’s football in Australia,” Kerr said. “I don’t think this was once in a lifetime. If you bring the product to the show, we’ve proven people will come out and support it. Hopefully we’ll get a few new fans that will stick around. Now it is time for funding and all of that stuff to be invested in the game because we’ve shown we can play the game.”

Kerr, one of the best players in the world, struggled with a calf injury at the start of the tournament, but started against England. She was a second-half substitute in the Matildas’ shootout victory over France in the quarterfinals.

Sweden was similarly disappointed to once again be out of the running for the title. The Swedes fell 2-1 to Spain on Tuesday night in Auckland.

Sweden, ranked third in the World, has never won a World Cup title. The Swedes were runners-up in 2003 to Germany and they’ve won the third-place match three times, including four years ago in France.

The Swedes were also silver medalists in both the Tokyo Olympics and the Rio Games in 2016.

“I’m tired of crying big tournament tears,” Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani said.

The Swedes made a mark on the tournament in the round of 16 when they ended the U.S. team’s run toward an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup title. Zecira Musovic had a World Cup record 11 saves and Sweden advanced on penalties after a scoreless draw — sending the Americans home earlier than ever before.

Sweden has some individual achievements to play for in its final match, including the Golden Boot award. Amanda Ilestedt has four goals, just one behind tournament leader Hinata Miyazawa of Japan.

Saturday’s match will be the last for Sweden midfielder Caroline Seger, who has played in five World Cups. She has battled a calf injury throughout the tournament and has played only sparingly.

Seger has appeared in 235 matches for Sweden, most of any player, man or woman. She did not play in the team’s knockout round matches. Should she play on Saturday, it would be her 21st appearance in a World Cup for Sweden, breaking former goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl’s record.

For both teams there’s also financial incentive.

At this World Cup, FIFA designated individual bonuses for the players out of the prize money pool. Each player in the tournament earned a base of $30,000, which grew as their teams progressed. Players on the third-place winning team will be due $185,000.
…

A new study on inclusion in film shows just how much of a rarity Barbie is. For every woman as a speaking character in the most popular films of 2022, there were more than two men, according to report by University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

The USC report, published Thursday, found that 34.6% of speaking parts were female in the top 100 box-office hits of last year. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has been annually tracking that and many other metrics since 2007.

And in its first such study in three years, USC researchers found that in many areas, progress toward parity on screen has stalled since the pandemic — and in some respects hasn’t changed all that much since 14 years ago. In 2019, 34% of speaking characters were female. In 2008, it was 32.8%.

“It is clear that the entertainment industry has little desire or motivation to improve casting processes in a way that creates meaningful change for girls and women,” said Stacy L. Smith, founder and director of the Inclusion Initiative, in a statement. “The lack of progress is particularly disappointing following decades of activism and advocacy.”

In analyzing the top films in ticket sales, the report doesn’t include the large amount of films produced for streaming platforms and smaller releases. But it does offer a snapshot of how Hollywood is evolving — or not.

And it comes on the heels of the enormous success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which has made $1.2 billion worldwide since opening last month and domestically has become the highest grossing movie ever from a female filmmaker. Last year, one in 10 of the biggest box-office films were directed by women, down from record rates in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Some findings in the study point to progress in inclusivity on screen. There are more female leading or co-leading roles in the top grossing movies than ever. Some 44% of such lead roles were girls or women in 2022, a historical high and more than double the rate of 2007 (20%).

Speaking characters from underrepresented ethnic groups have also made sizable gains. In 2022, Black, Hispanic, Asian and other non-white minorities accounted for 38.3% of speaking characters, nearly matching the U.S. population percentage of 41%. Most notably, Asian characters have gone from 3.4% of characters in 2007 to 15.9% last year, a movie year that culminated with the best picture win for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

But other metrics show that the film industry regressed in some areas of diversity during the pandemic. In 2022, the top grossing movies featured 31% of leads from underrepresented ethnic groups, down from 37% in 2021. Out of those 100 2022 movies, 46 didn’t include a Latino speaking character.

“These trends suggest that any improvement for people from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups is limited,” said Smith. “While it is encouraging to see changes for leading characters and for the Asian community, our data on invisibility suggests that there is still much more to be done to ensure that the diversity that exists in reality is portrayed on screen.”

Of the top 100 films in 2022, just 2.1% of speaking characters were LGBTQ+ — roughly the same number as a decade ago. Of the 100 films, 72 didn’t feature a single LGBTQ+ character. Only one was nonbinary.

The number of characters with disabilities has also flatlined. In 2022, 1.9% of speaking characters were depicted with a disability. In 2015, the percentage was 2.4%.

With actors and screenwriters striking over fair pay, AI and other issues, Smith said Thursday’s report should add to the demands of workers on screen and off in Hollywood.

“When people from these communities are rendered invisible both on screen and behind the camera, the need to ensure that every opportunity merits a living wage is essential. This cannot happen if people are not working at all,” said Smith. “Hollywood has a long road ahead to address the exclusion still happening in the industry alongside the concerns actors and writers are bringing to the forefront.”
…