The International Olympic Committee announced on April 1 that former IOC member Chang Ung of North Korea passed away on March 29 at the age of 87.
In a statement on its official website, the IOC expressed “deep condolences” and said the Olympic flag at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, would be flown at half-mast for three days.
Born in Pyongyang on July 5, 1938, Chang was a former basketball player who represented North Korea before transitioning into sports leadership.
Chang was elected to the IOC in 1996 alongside the late Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee and served for over two decades as a prominent international sports figure representing North Korea. In the late 2010s, he began experiencing health problems.
During the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Chang visited South Korea but returned to North Korea before the closing ceremony due to health reasons. His last appearance on the international sports stage was at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne in June 2019. In October 2023, he attended the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India, via video conference to receive an Olympic Order in recognition of his contributions.
Chang was widely regarded as a key figure in using sports to ease inter-Korean tensions. He played a central role in the 1986 North-South Sports Talks and chaired the North Korean delegation on the working committee that formed the unified table tennis team at the 1991 World Championships in Chiba, Japan. He was also instrumental in the joint North-South entrance ceremonies at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Chang is survived by his children: his son, Chang Jong-hyok, a former North Korean national football team goalkeeper who worked at the IOC, and his daughter, Chang Jong-hyang, a former coach of the North Korean women’s volleyball team in Pyongyang and currently an international volleyball referee.
(Translated and edited with ChatGPT/The Korea Herald)
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