North Korean Soccer Team Reprimanded

I saw this coming.

I will be humble and not brag too much: But I saw this coming. During the World Cup I had my say about what may befall the North Korean team after their poor showing.

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They are playing out of fear, not love for the game. And that is why it sucks to play for North Korea: Because if you lose you may very well suffer great punishment if not loss of life. Family and friends may ostracize you and Kim Jong-Il may proscribed the punishment himself. It’s scary playing with that fear. Loss of a game is not just simply that. But a national dishonor and may lead to death.

This is why it would have been generous to offer the losing team (North Korea lost all its games including a 7-nil thumping by Portugal) safe refugee somewhere lest they be persecuted for embarrassing the dear leader when they return.

Especially since after their strong 2-1 loss against Brazil, the Portugal game was aired live because the state believed that after holding Brazil to 2 and scoring 1 the national team may play even better against the less skilled Portugal and win. This was the first sporting competition to air live in a extreme police state where airing are always delayed to avoid showcasing a humiliation of a national team. Feeling confident, the authorities bet wrong and the nation saw a humiliating loss. That cannot be good for the regime's image and they most certainly must be irritated and blame the team for their loss reflecting on them.

And, indeed, there have now been unseemly consequences:

The North Korean football team have reportedly been severely reprimanded after losing all three of their games at the World Cup in South Africa.

Kim Jong-Hun, the coach, and his team were summoned to the People's Palace of Culture in the capital, Pyongyang for a dressing down on July 2, US-based Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday.

Myong Chol, the sports minister, was among about 400 government officials, students and athletes that too part in the six-hour session, the report said.

Players were forced to reprimand their coach at the end of the gathering, it said.

Kim Jong-Hun was also apparently made to work on a building site and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea.

The criticism at the meeting was led by Ri Dong-Kyu, a commentator for state TV, which made the 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Portugal its first ever live sports broadcast.

The decision to show the game live came in the wake of an encouraging 2-1 defeat to Brazil. North Korea lost their final game 3-0 to Ivory Coast.

The Radio Free Asia report cited two unidentified sources in North Korea and a Chinese businessman named Yu, described as knowledgeable about North Korea affairs.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it could not immediately confirm the report.

However, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted a South Korean intelligence source as saying: "In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps.

Considering this is a communist hell-hole, the coach should consider himself lucky just to be alive. Next time he may not be so fortunate.