Major honours
North Korea is a program that rarely competes internationally yet has delivered at decisive moments. Pak Yong Sun won consecutive World Championship women's singles titles in Calcutta in 1975 and Birmingham in 1977. Since 1979, the only non-Chinese player to win that title has been South Korea's Hyun Jung-hwa in 1993, which makes Pak's back-to-back titles close to the women's game's last non-Chinese dynasty. Pyongyang hosted the World Championships in 1979. At the 1991 Chiba Championships, Ri Bun-hui and Yu Sun-bok, playing as part of the unified Korea team, beat China 3-2 in the Corbillon Cup final, and Yu Sun-bok, who won the decisive final singles match, became the author of one of the sport's most famous upsets. Since then, international appearances have been limited, but Kim Song-i won a women's singles bronze at Rio 2016, and at Paris 2024 the pairing of Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-Yong won mixed doubles silver. The near-total absence of video on this team whenever it re-enters competition remains its longstanding weapon.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
Joining South Korea as one team to beat China in Chiba in 1991 is this program's defining moment, and the two Koreas fielded a unified team again at the 2018 World Team Championships in Halmstad.