North Korea's Key to Olympic Medals: Refrigerators For Winners, Labor Camps for Losers

By JOOHEE CHO | ABC News

North Korea's Olympic athletes are thrilling their countrymen with surprising success in winning medals and they are attributing their success to their Dear Leader Kim Jong Un.

But others, including former North Korean athletes who have defected, suggest the success of the country's small contingent of athletes at the games may be the result of a policy of training them from a very young age at specialized schools, backed up by rewards like cars and refrigerators for winners and the threat of labor camps for losers.

North Korea ranks 14th in the overall medal count, but fifth in terms of the number of gold medals with four.
The country won two golds in men's weightlifting, one in women's weightlifting and one in women's judo. It also captured a bronze medal in women's weightlifting.

The communist nation has 56 athletes competing in 11 sports. Its hopes for additional medals lie in boxing, wrestling, diving, table tennis, judo, and archery. The best Olympic result in the past was four gold medals and five bronzes in Barcelona 1992.

Joyful residents in North Korea gather to watch the games on huge outdoor screens and public places with television connection.

"After witnessing the gold medal at the Olympics, my heart is unutterably happy and my pride (in our nation) is growing," an unidentified woman said on state television news.

That pride is exactly what the country's new 28 year-old leader Kim Jong Un is looking for. He has taken control of the impoverished nation of 25 million after his father Kim Jong Il passed away last December. Decades of famine have left many North Koreans bitter and analysts say this Olympic Games' fever is a perfect opportunity to generate loyalty and devotion among his subjects.

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The Steps towards Glory always start with 'G'

Updated Medal count for 2012 London Games

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	17	9	4	30
2	United States	11	8	9	28
3	South Korea	6	2	4	12
4	France	5	3	4	12
5	North Korea	4	0	1	5
6	Germany	3	8	2	13
7	Italy	3	4	2	9
8	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3
9	Japan	2	4	11	17
10	Russia	2	4	5	11
11	Great Britain	2	3	4	9
12	Hungary	2	1	1	4
13	Ukraine	2	0	4	6
14	South Africa	2	0	0	2
15	Australia	1	5	2	8
16	Romania	1	3	2	6
17	Brazil	1	1	1	3
17	Netherlands	1	1	1	3
19	Georgia	1	0	0	1
19	Lithuania	1	0	0	1
19	Slovenia	1	0	0	1
19	Venezuela	1	0	0	1
23	Colombia	0	2	1	3
23	Cuba	0	2	1	3
25	Mexico	0	2	0	2
26	Canada	0	1	5	6
27	Indonesia	0	1	1	2
27	Norway	0	1	1	2
29	Taiwan	0	1	0	1
29	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
29	Denmark	0	1	0	1
29	Egypt	0	1	0	1
29	Poland	0	1	0	1
29	Spain	0	1	0	1
29	Sweden	0	1	0	1
29	Thailand	0	1	0	1
37	New Zealand	0	0	2	2
37	Slovakia	0	0	2	2
39	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
39	Belarus	0	0	1	1
39	Belgium	0	0	1	1
39	Greece	0	0	1	1
39	India	0	0	1	1
39	Mongolia	0	0	1	1
39	Qatar	0	0	1	1
39	Moldova	0	0	1	1
39	Serbia	0	0	1	1
39	Singapore	0	0	1	1
39	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
50	Afghanistan	0	0	0	0
50	Albania	0	0	0	0
50	Algeria	0	0	0	0
50	American Samoa	0	0	0	0
50	Andorra	0	0	0	0
50	Angola	0	0	0	0
50	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	0	0
50	Argentina	0	0	0	0
50	Armenia	0	0	0	0
50	Aruba	0	0	0	0
50	Austria	0	0	0	0
50	Bahamas	0	0	0	0
50	Bahrain	0	0	0	0
50	Bangladesh	0	0	0	0
50	Barbados	0	0	0	0
50	Belize	0	0	0	0
50	Benin	0	0	0	0
50	Bermuda	0	0	0	0
50	Bhutan	0	0	0	0
50	Bolivia	0	0	0	0
50	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	0	0	0
50	Botswana	0	0	0	0
50	Brunei	0	0	0	0
50	Bulgaria	0	0	0	0
50	Burkina Faso	0	0	0	0
50	Burundi	0	0	0	0
50	Cambodia	0	0	0	0
50	Cameroon	0	0	0	0
50	Cape Verde	0	0	0	0
50	Cayman Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Central African Republic	0	0	0	0
50	Chad	0	0	0	0
50	Chile	0	0	0	0
50	Comoros	0	0	0	0
50	Congo	0	0	0	0
50	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Costa Rica	0	0	0	0
50	Cote d'Ivoire	0	0	0	0
50	Croatia	0	0	0	0
50	Cyprus	0	0	0	0
50	Djibouti	0	0	0	0
50	Dominica	0	0	0	0
50	Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0
50	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0	0	0	0
50	Ecuador	0	0	0	0
50	El Salvador	0	0	0	0
50	Equatorial Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Eritrea	0	0	0	0
50	Estonia	0	0	0	0
50	Ethiopia	0	0	0	0
50	Fiji	0	0	0	0
50	Finland	0	0	0	0
50	Gabon	0	0	0	0
50	Gambia	0	0	0	0
50	Ghana	0	0	0	0
50	Grenada	0	0	0	0
50	Guam	0	0	0	0
50	Guatemala	0	0	0	0
50	Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0
50	Guyana	0	0	0	0
50	Haiti	0	0	0	0
50	Honduras	0	0	0	0
50	Hong Kong	0	0	0	0
50	Iceland	0	0	0	0
50	Independent Olympic Athletes	0	0	0	0
50	Iran	0	0	0	0
50	Iraq	0	0	0	0
50	Ireland	0	0	0	0
50	Israel	0	0	0	0
50	Jamaica	0	0	0	0
50	Jordan	0	0	0	0
50	Kenya	0	0	0	0
50	Kiribati	0	0	0	0
50	Kuwait	0	0	0	0
50	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0
50	Laos	0	0	0	0
50	Latvia	0	0	0	0
50	Lebanon	0	0	0	0
50	Lesotho	0	0	0	0
50	Liberia	0	0	0	0
50	Libya	0	0	0	0
50	Liechtenstein	0	0	0	0
50	Luxembourg	0	0	0	0
50	Madagascar	0	0	0	0
50	Malawi	0	0	0	0
50	Malaysia	0	0	0	0
50	Maldives	0	0	0	0
50	Mali	0	0	0	0
50	Malta	0	0	0	0
50	Marshall Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Mauritania	0	0	0	0
50	Mauritius	0	0	0	0
50	Micronesia	0	0	0	0
50	Macedonia	0	0	0	0
50	Monaco	0	0	0	0
50	Montenegro	0	0	0	0
50	Morocco	0	0	0	0
50	Mozambique	0	0	0	0
50	Myanmar	0	0	0	0
50	Namibia	0	0	0	0
50	Nauru	0	0	0	0
50	Nepal	0	0	0	0
50	Nicaragua	0	0	0	0
50	Niger	0	0	0	0
50	Nigeria	0	0	0	0
50	Oman	0	0	0	0
50	Pakistan	0	0	0	0
50	Palau	0	0	0	0
50	Palestine	0	0	0	0
50	Panama	0	0	0	0
50	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Paraguay	0	0	0	0
50	Peru	0	0	0	0
50	Philippines	0	0	0	0
50	Portugal	0	0	0	0
50	Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0
50	Rwanda	0	0	0	0
50	St. Kitts and Nevis	0	0	0	0
50	Saint Lucia	0	0	0	0
50	Samoa	0	0	0	0
50	San Marino	0	0	0	0
50	Sao Tome and Principe	0	0	0	0
50	Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0
50	Senegal	0	0	0	0
50	Seychelles	0	0	0	0
50	Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0
50	Solomon Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Somalia	0	0	0	0
50	Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0
50	St. Vincent and Grenadines	0	0	0	0
50	Sudan	0	0	0	0
50	Suriname	0	0	0	0
50	Swaziland	0	0	0	0
50	Switzerland	0	0	0	0
50	Syria	0	0	0	0
50	Tajikistan	0	0	0	0
50	Tanzania	0	0	0	0
50	Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0
50	Togo	0	0	0	0
50	Tonga	0	0	0	0
50	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	0	0
50	Tunisia	0	0	0	0
50	Turkey	0	0	0	0
50	Turkmenistan	0	0	0	0
50	Tuvalu	0	0	0	0
50	Uganda	0	0	0	0
50	United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0
50	Uruguay	0	0	0	0
50	Vanuatu	0	0	0	0
50	Vietnam	0	0	0	0
50	British Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
50	U.S. Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Yemen	0	0	0	0
50	Zambia	0	0	0	0
50	Zimbabwe	0	0	0	0

Most of the countries that were not named have yet to win a Medal, while some were left out because they only have 1.