North Korean television aired the opening match of the men’s soccer World Cup which kicked off in Qatar on Monday KST, underscoring the continued importance of the game to the country and opening a rare window to the outside world for North Koreans, albeit with some restrictions.
Korean Central Television (KCTV) broadcast the entire Qatar-Ecuador game on Tuesday morning, having earlier reported briefly on the match and the opening ceremony in its Monday night news bulletin.
North Korean television aired the opening match of the men’s soccer World Cup which kicked off in Qatar on Monday KST, underscoring the continued importance of the game to the country and opening a rare window to the outside world for North Koreans, albeit with some restrictions.
Korean Central Television (KCTV) broadcast the entire Qatar-Ecuador game on Tuesday morning, having earlier reported briefly on the match and the opening ceremony in its Monday night news bulletin. 
Shreyas Reddy is a correspondent at NK News, based in Seoul. He previously worked as a researcher at BBC Monitoring, where his work focused on news and key people and organizations from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Follow him on Twitter @shreyas_k_reddy.
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