A little nugget of information has emerged from sources within Pyongyang over the aftermath of North Korea’s campaign at the South African World Cup. After their 2-1 exits to eventual Quarter Finalists Brazil, the dear leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ordered for them to stand up on a public stage at the People’s Palace of Culture and be grilled for six hours by 600 top government officials, sporting professionals and athletes for not winning the Wold Cup. This is all for a team ranked 103rd in the world.
Oh but the punishment doesn’t end there. The clearly headstrong team coach, Kim Jong-Hun, has not only been kicked off the team but been expelled from the Workers’ Part of Korea. What’s worst is he’s now reportedly been forced to become a construction labourer on a building site in Pyongyang. And as if you thought it just couldn’t get any worse for him, he’s been charged with betraying General Kim Jong-Un, the son of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, which has raised fears that he could be executed.
All of this came about after they’d lost 2-1 but been praised for a good performance against Brazil. They then decided to broadcast the first ever live foreign football match on television to the nation for the second game against Portugal. In a match which eventually saw them humiliated 7-0, commentary stopped halfway through the game and the match went unreported in the next day’s newspapers. They finally lost 3-0 to Ivory Coast.
Two of the team’s Japanese born players avoided this public humiliation as they flew straight to Japan after the World Cup ended. According to the Chosun Ilbo South Korean newspaper:
In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps.
Considering the high hopes North Koreans had for the World Cup, the regime could have done worse things to the team than just reprimand them for their ideological shortcomings.
Well when put it that way, I guess you can count them lucky. If only such a public questioning was possible for the England team then we might very well win our next major tournament.
