North Korea’s 2010 Men’s National Football Team
- Dec 12, 2024
- 2 min read
By: Kevin Yeo
Earlier in the month, the host country of Qatar raised the 2023 AFC Asian Cup trophy against the tournament's dark horse, Jordan, who marked their first appearance in a final match of an international football tournament. Although South Korea was participating in the tournament, its neighbouring country up north did not participate.
In the past and present, both North Korea’s men's and women's football team have been used to generate propaganda meant to reflect the country’s athletic prowess on the global stage against their political opponents to boost public morale. Under Kim, when reality falls short of expectations, players and staff of the national team have reportedly faced punishment.
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is one such example. In this World Cup, North Korea was the lowest-ranked team of the 32 teams entering the group stages. In the tournament, only few North Koreans had the financial means or clearance to attend the country’s football matches. To address this, it was reported that North Korea recruited 1000 Chinese cheerleaders to cheer for North Korea.
In their group, North Korea was going to have to face legendary football nations such as Brazil and Portugal. North Korea’s first group stage match was against Brazil, often considered the best football nation in the world 5 World Cup titles, more than any other country. To protect their image, North Korea decided to avoid broadcasting the match against Brazil in their country with the fear that they may be outclassed and humiliated for their people to watch. Surprisingly, what should have likely been a landslide victory for Brazil, the final score was a respectable Brazil [2] – North Korea [1]. Exceeding expectations in their first match, North Korea decided to broadcast their next match against Portugal nationally. This was North Korea’s first nationally televised football match.
In their match against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, the final score was Portugal [7] – North Korea [0]. This was one of the most lopsided goal differentials in an international tournament in the 21st century. By the end of the group stages, North Korea finished last in their group stage and were headed back home.
Once they returned, reports surfaced that the players and coaching staff were subject to a 6-hours of public humiliation in front of a live audience of 600 government officials, students, and journalists. During this event, the foreign-born players were exempt from attending. The scapegoat of their short stint in the 2010 World Cup was largely directed at the team’s manager Kim Jong-hun, who has reportedly been forced to work a construction job since then. Several reports have said the safety of the manager may be at jeopardy after the tournament.
North Korea was hoping to leverage a successful run in the 2010 World Cup to bolster a positive image of the upcoming heir Kim Jong Un at the time, to ease the transition of power as Kim Jong Il stepped down.
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