On Screen and On Scene: 'As One'

As One dramatizes the historic conjoining of the North and South Korean ping pong teams for the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan. At the beginning, there’s more that separates the two teams than a net and the 38^th parallel. The stoic and militaristic North Koreans are preyed upon by their more expressive and relaxed South Koreans, which is met with violent response. The bitter rivalry between the team’s top female players accentuates the long distance the players need to go towards working together.

But they did -- to unparalleled success. The similarities in the drive and the humanity of the players helps to overcome their differences. Soon, the young players are arguing to stay together, rather than be ripped apart by political forces.

When ping-pong diplomacy stirred Korea

TOKYO - Two decades have passed since the end of the Cold War, but Korea still remains divided at the 38th parallel. Without having signed a peace treaty after the Korean War ended in 1953, North and South Korea are still technically at war.

For Pyongyang, the head of its neighboring state is a key target in its smear campaigns. In recent months, North Korean state media has even stepped up its rhetoric against the "traitorous" South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, branding him a "rabid dog" or a "rat" or a "tiger moth".