Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on North Korea’s hosting of the World Table Tennis Championships in 1979. Part 1 on how Pyongyang attempted to use the competition to improve ties with the U.S. can be read here.

Everything seemed to be falling into place for a North Korean propaganda coup when the country’s table tennis star Pak Yong Sun won her second consecutive championship.

Pak (sometimes spelled Pak Yung Sun) achieved a rare feat when she claimed the gold medal in the women’s final at the 34th World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) in Birmingham,