Judoka Huh Mi-mi sets sights on gold for Korea after shedding Japanese citizenship

“I decided to only keep my Korean citizenship as I wanted to show the attitude as a national team member that competes with a Taeguk mark on,” Huh said.

Judoka Huh Mi-mi poses for a photo during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at the JoongAng Building in western Seoul on Dec. 28 last year. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Judoka Huh Mi-mi is keen to win a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics where she is ready to shine for Korea.

“I am very excited about the year of 2024, since I am going to be a ‘real’ Korean this year, and the Olympics will also take place,” Huh said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at the JoongAng Building in western Seoul on Dec. 28 last year.

Huh held dual citizenship in Japan and Korea, but she renounced her Japanese citizenship on Dec. 19 after she turned 21 years old. Japanese laws stipulate that those who are 22 or older can only keep one citizenship.

“I decided to only keep my Korean citizenship as I wanted to show the attitude as a national team member that competes with a Taeguk mark on,” Huh said. “I could not do the paperwork due to my training schedule, but I feel so free now that I sorted out the citizenship work before the new year of 2024.”

Huh was born in 2001 in Tokyo to a Korean father and a Japanese mother. Her grandparents are all Korean.

She opted to compete for Korea instead of Japan, as her grandmother’s last wish was for Huh to represent Korea at the Olympics.

In order to make her grandmother’s wish come true, Huh joined Gyeongsangbukdo Sports Council in 2021 and put on the Taeguk mark the following year.

Since then, she has proved her potential on the senior international stage many times, winning three medals at the Judo Grand Slam’s 57-kilogram division — two gold in 2022 and one bronze in 2023.

She also secured three gold medals at the International Judo Federation Grand Prix, including her last gold at the 2024 Judo Grand Prix Odivelas in Portugal on Jan. 26.

Thanks to those medals, she sits in fourth place in the women’s 57-kilogram division on the rankings for the Olympic Games as of Jan. 28.

Huh is a favorite to win a gold medal in judo at the upcoming Olympics, which would end Korea’s 28-year gold medal drought in women’s judo at the Games.

If she wins gold this year, it will also be Korea’s first gold in judo at the Olympics since 2012, with Korea’s last gold coming from Kim Jae-bum and Song Dae-nam.

“I already feel thrilled about competing at the Olympics, the stage that I have dreamt of since I was young,” Huh said. “I am training hard to win a gold medal. My skills have improved a lot as I added Korean ‘stamina-based judo’ to Japanese technical skills that I learned when I was young.”

Huh has also trained under women’s national judo team head coach Kim Mi-jung, 1992 Olympic gold medalist and the first-ever female Korean judoka to win a gold medal at the Games.

“My skills have improved by more than two levels under the head coach’s guidance,” Huh said. “I am also honing a lethal move that matches my specialty shoulder throw.”

Huh is also a great-granddaughter of Korean independence activist Huh Suk who lived from 1857 through 1920, during the Japanese colonial period that lasted from 1910 to 1945.

Her great-grandfather's memorial is located in Gunwi County, Daegu.

“The first thing I will do after medaling at the Paris Olympics is to visit my [great] grandfather’s memorial,” Huh said.

The Paris Olympics will run from July 26 through Aug. 11.

BY PI JOO-YOUNG [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]