Friday, August 6, 2010
According to Radio Free Asia, North Korean authorities are retaliating against players in the national football team who played in the 2010 World Cup. The team lost all three matches. It was only the second time that the North Koreans had qualified for the World Cup finals.
Members of the squad, excepting Japanese nationals Jong Tae-se and An Yong-Hak who were in their homeland, were publicly shamed in a Stalinist-style event where more than 400 people, including journalists and political leaders, insulted and humiliated the team.
Following the event, the team’s coach Kim Jung Hun has been sentenced to hard labor following a speedy trial. “He will carry loads on a building site for fourteen hours a day,” reports Le Figaro. He was found guilty of “betrayal of trust of Kim Jong-un”, the son and heir of country leader Kim Jong-Il who determined the final team roster, and allegedly expelled from the Worker’s Party.
In the past, national coaches have not returned to their countries following losses in the finals in the World Cup. In 1978, Mexican coach, Jose Antonio Roca would not return to his country following the elimination of the team in the first group stage. Like their North Korean counterparts who lost 7–0 against Portugal, the Mexicans had suffered a heavy defeat against Germany, losing 6–0.
Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
This is a complete or partial translation of the article “Mondial : l’entraîneur de la Corée du nord condamné aux travaux forcés“, from the French language Wikinews, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
Share this: 
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.