North Korea did not show up for...

North Korea did not show up for its Olympic-qualifying soccer match against Thailand in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, despite warnings that failure to appear would bring action by FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.

North Korea has demanded to be made a co-host of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Earlier, Kim Yu-song, third secretary at the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, said that as a co-host, his country would qualify automatically for the soccer competition of the 1988 Games without playing in the preliminary rounds.

Hamzah Abu Samah, president of the Asian Football Confederation and a vice president of FIFA, said the Koreans’ action could be the beginning of a boycott of the entire Olympics.