DPR Korea’s Taewon Jo was interviewed by reporters after his win over Alexei Lazarev in the eighth round.

Taewon Jo at the closing ceremony

Reporter: What do you think of your results this time?
Jo: I’m dissatisfied, because I didn’t do as well as I did the last time I played in the World Amateur Go Championship. That was four years ago when I won seven games, including a win over Satoshi Hiraoka, the Japanese player who finished first on SOS.

Ranka: What other tournaments have you taken part in during the three years in between?
Jo: The World Mind Sports Games in 2008, for one. In addition, we have four tournaments every year in DPR Korea, and I’ve played in all of those, winning three times.

Reporter: In view of your previous win over Hiraoka, how did you feel when you met the Japanese player Yohei Sato this year in the second round?
Jo: Sato was a new opponent for me, so I felt very tense going into that game.

Reporter: How much time do you spend studying go?
Jo: After my university studies, I spend about three hours a day studying go. I use Chinese go books.

Reporter: Do you play go on internet?
Jo: No, I don’t.

Reporter: What are you studying at the university?
Jo: I’m majoring in go, actually. There are about six or seven of us in this major.

Reporter: What do you hope to do in the future?
Jo: I want to work at go. That does not mean I want to be a professional player, but I want to do work related to go.

Reporter: What do you like about go?
Jo: The exhilaration of winning. For me, that’s the whole thing.

Reporter: Thank you