Comments on: World Cup Qualifier: Under dogs vs. Running dogs

By: North Korean Economy Watch » Blog Archive » North-South Korea draw same World Cup group (agian)

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:03:11 +0000

[…] and play the South Korean national anthem, the initial Pyongyang home match was moved to Shanghai, where yours truly was able to attend. Pyongyang also tried to have the Seoul home match moved to another city or country before […]

By: North Korean Economy Watch » Blog Archive » DPRK world cup progress

North Korean Economy Watch » Blog Archive » DPRK world cup progress — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:23:01 +0000

[…] On June 22, North and South Korea will meet in Seoul. For coverage of their March game in Shanghai, click here. […]

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:22:32 +0000

Honestly, you think that was orchestrated? really? I’ve seen them play Iran before in Pyongyang in the usual half-full stadium of silence (Asian cup qualifier, Oct 2003 as I recall) and the state didn’t arm the crowd that time, a quick swipe with Occam’s razor would surely suggest that trouble kicked off as the crowd got angry, not that a puppet-master wanted to make a point

By: Werner Koidl

Werner Koidl — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:06:55 +0000

It were not just a handful of people. According to the Independent thousands of angry Korean supporters caused troubles during and after the match:

“Fifa is today awaiting referee Mohammed Kousa’s report before launching an investigation after he and two assistants were forced to seek refuge from angry North Korea fans following the World Cup qualifier against Iran.

Iran beat North Korea 2-0 in Pyongyang yesterday in a match that ended in violent scenes to take the outright lead in their World Cup qualifying group. The match officials were unable to leave the pitch for 20 minutes after the game as furious North Korea fans hurled bottles, rocks and chairs in frustration.

North Korean soldiers and police were forced to step in to restore order at Kim Il-Sung Stadium after the defender Nam Song-Chol was sent off for shoving the Syrian referee Kousa. The violence spilled over outside the stadium where thousands of angry North Korea supporters prevented Iran’s players from boarding the team bus. Riot police finally pushed back the crowd far enough for Iran’s squad to depart two hours after the end of the game.

Tempers flared towards the end of the Group B match as Nam was dismissed for pushing Kousa after he had denied the defender a penalty. The game was held up for five minutes following Nam’s dismissal as bottles rained down on to the stadium’s running track.”

First I also thought that the North Koreans still can show expressions of spontaneity (similar to their southern countrymen), but after reading a report of a 2003 Iran - North Korean qualifier match in Teheran where the Iranians came not only with scarves and flags but also with grenades and rockets to support their team, I suspected the NK-rulers wanted the NK audience to support its team with at least the same same Songun spirit that the Iranians demonstrated in the Teheran match.
(see http://payvand.com/news/03/nov/1085.html )

By: Simon

Simon — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:00:47 +0000

That’s correct, there is an exception to the ‘tendency’ I described i my earlier post, however a handful of people chucking things is not a riot - any European football fan can tell the difference surely and nobody is suggesting that it was state-orchestrated trouble anyway, should perhaps be viewed as a case of angry fans actually caring enough to make a bit of trouble under their own steam; AKA action they independently and with free will took into their own hands. I’m not suggesting violence at sporting events should be supported but as I recall from other forums at the time the concept of NK Nationals acting and thinking independently is generally considered a positive thing. Nevertheless I’ve been to several international matches in Pyongyang and never seen anything other than what I described above with the exception of Women’s internationals where the crowd is a bit more enthusiastic and does tend to shout encouragement (no chanting though) perhaps because the women’s team is an actual force in world football unlike the national men’s team.

By: Werner Koidl

Werner Koidl — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:36:10 +0000

According to a Chinadaily report the North Korean soccer fans showed in 2005 a quite different behaviour:

“World soccer governing body FIFA has ordered North Korea to play a politically sensitive home World Cup qualifier against Japan behind closed doors in Bangkok.

FIFA said North Korea’s soccer association had not appealed in time against a decision to punish the country for crowd trouble during March qualifiers against Bahrain and Iran in Pyongyang.”

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:55:14 +0000

All the ones in white clothes (as seen in the pics taken from above) were full-on DPRK citizens, as mentioned in the piece above they were mostly working in Beijing and Shanghai; there were airline staff, businessmen, students, waitresses, etc all there. The Chinese chaoxian zu seemed to be sitting on the upper stand across the stadium, at least there were a load of people dressed drably, not really making any noise and they had a couple of NK flags out so I assume this was them. The NKs in the lower stand made a bit of noise and had big singalong at the end. When people attend matches in Pyongyang they tend to just sit in silence regardless of how it is going so this did make a refreshing change from that scenario

By: Oikono

Oikono — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:36:19 +0000

Darn. Wish I was in Shanghai!

By: NKeconWatch

NKeconWatch — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:54:36 +0000

The ones I spoke with were all DPRK citizens. I did not bring up the politics of the game with anyone (I stuck with “getting to know you quesitons”), but I am sure they all knew.

By: nkmonitor

nkmonitor — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:16:00 +0000

The DPRK fans seem pretty friendly. By the way, where they mostly Chaoxian Zu or actual DPRK citizens? Where they aware of the controversy surrounding the match?