North Korea Publicly Humiliates Losing World Cup Squad
Members of the Los Angeles Clippers and Pittsburgh Pirates are probably very happy the United States does not treat its losing athletes like they reportedly do in North Korea. Following North Korea's three losses at the World Cup, the team had to undergo a six-hour inquisition, publicly shaming them, according to reports.
The entire squad was forced onto a stage and berated as 400 government officials, students and journalists watched. The players were subjected to a "grand debate" because they failed in their "ideological struggle" to succeed, Radio Free Asia and South Korean media reported.
The reports claim the team's coach was punished for "betraying" Kim Jong-un -- one of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il's sons and his heir apparent.
And get this: The head coach of the team was forced to become a construction worker and has been expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea. Players were also forced to blame the coach for the defeats.
As humiliating as this all sounds, it apparently could have been far, far worse. "In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps," a South Korean intelligence source said.
The North Korean government did not show much confidence in the team going into the tournament -- it's first since 1966 -- because it banned the live broadcast of the games to avoid national embarrassment. But after a surprisingly close 2-1 defeat at the hands of international powerhouse Brazil, state television decided to broadcast the following game, making it the nation's first live sports broadcast ever.
Big mistake.
North Korea lost that game in a crushing blowout -- 7-0 to Portugal, and a public repudiation of the team was apparently necessary.
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should be ban from all international sports due to their lack of sportsmanship.
I bet if a ban were imposed, NK might ease up and change their tune, no international sports means a lose of revenue and afterall that is what it is all about for NK.
What ever the commission is that oversees the WC could ban them on the basis of protection of the players welfare.
we could simply send in a aquadron of F22s to wipe out their leaders before a marine landing on the northern coast, as south korea sweeps up from the bottom, pinioning them and leading to an easy victory. that would solve all the problems.
The US hasn't won a war since WWII, unless you count Grenada, and that includes getting stomped by NK. We have some impressive toys in our arsenel, but on the ground, we invariably get our arses kicked every time. While we're at it, it's worth noting that no standing army has ever beaten militia on their home turf.
NK has a population of 24 million - not big compared to the US population of 300 million. On the other hand , NK has 1.2 million soldiers, compared to around 1.5 million US troops scattered all over the world.
So, start with 1.2 million trained troops under arms, toss in another 5 million or so militia, then top it off with half a dozen nukes and very sophisticated missile systems. Not to put too fine a point on it, but only a complete fool would talk about "easy victories". You drop a bunch of urban ghetto kids looking for tuition money into the middle of NK, you can color them dead. A few well placed nukes into the heart of US offshore factories in SK, and the US economy falls off a cliff, not to mention what would happen if a few were placed in the heart of Japan's financial centers. Not to mention the fact NK is good buddies with China and China could stomp us flat simply by dumping a trillion dollars in Treasury notes on the world market. It'd be hard to finance a war with the value of the US dollar reduced to zero, which is what you'd get if China decided to unload in a big way.
Is there anything to like about NK? I don't think so. Does that mean NK would be a push over in a military engagement? Only a crazy person would believe so.
it's a personality cult. remove the personality (in a public fashion) and you remove the cult. then, we leave. pack up, go home, let south korea do the rest.
guess iraq was a wash and so was afghanistan ? and sophisticated missile systems? dude, they're a starved, huddled mass of people terrified by their government . remove the government, crush their poorly trained and poorly equipped military , and let south korea do the rest. done and done.
This is pretty funny when you think about it. Try to image this happening.
Do you think the approach could be adopted for an application to US politicians? I'm not sure that if one is not competent in their chosen profession, that a career change to driving a wheelbarrow is entirely without merit.
Any bets that in response to this we will be seeing top ten lists of people that should be driving a wheelbarrow for the next six months?
do they continue to field a team when this is the consequence of losing.