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North Korean soccer team reportedly punished

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World Cup soccer officials are investigating reports that North Korea’s outmatched national team faced punishment by government officials back home after losing all three of its matches in South Africa.

Sepp Blatter, president of the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, said this week that the organization had received tips that players and coaches “have been condemned or punished” after an embarrassing appearance in which they conceded the highest number of goals among the 32 teams in the tournament.

International soccer officials have sent a letter to the North Korean football federation about the allegations.

“The first step is the federation and we’ll see what the answer will be, and then we can elaborate on that,” Blatter told reporters Wednesday in Singapore.

The allegations were as yet unconfirmed, and some observers raised doubts about their accuracy.

In June, television images showed a dejected North Korean coach Kim Jong-hun consoling players after the team was trounced 7-0 by Portugal, one of three demoralizing losses. Playing in the tournament for the first time since 1966, the team also was defeated by Brazil and Ivory Coast.

Radio Free Asia reported that the players — except for Jong Tae-se and Ahn Yong-hak, who were raised in Japan — were summoned to Pyongyang for “harsh ideological criticism” and that the players were ordered to reprimand the coach, who was then sentenced to hard labor for the team’s failings.

The players also faced a public scolding by more than 400 students and sports fans, according to reports.

North Korea’s state-run news service has been silent about the allegations, which the radio station said were made by unidentified sources in North Korea and a Chinese businessman described as knowledgeable about North Korea affairs.

Soccer officials also considered allegations made by Chung Mong-joon, the former Hyundai chairman and president of the South Korean Football Assn.

Reached Thursday in Seoul, South Korean soccer officials said they have no information about their counterparts in the North.

Mohamed bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, told reporters this week that he spoke to four North Korean players last month and that they did not mention mistreatment.

“There was an unconfirmed report that these players have gone through torture or something like that, but I haven’t seen anything with my eyes or heard anything with my ears,” he said.

The team’s poor showing embarrassed officials in the secretive state, who had planned to ban live broadcast of the soccer games to avoid any ridicule. But after the close 2-1 loss to Brazil early in the tournament, state TV made the Portugal match its first live sports broadcast.

Punishment of disgraced national athletes is not unheard of. Saddam Hussein’s eldest son, Uday, reportedly tortured members of Iraq’s national soccer team after embarrassing losses.

However, one analyst said Thursday that punishing athletes and coaches for poor performance was a low to which even Kim Jong-il would not stoop.

“I don’t think the North Korean government, however a despotic state it may be, would do such a thing resulting from an outcome of a football match,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

“I’m sure there could have been precedent of such punishment, but I’m not aware of any.”

john.glionna@latimes.com

Times staff writer Glionna reported from Beijing and researcher Kim reported from Seoul.

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