North Korean players may face "re-education" on their return home, exiles suggest North Korean players may face "re-education" on their return home, exiles suggest 
 
 North Korean football fans - at least, those with both a TV set and a reliable electricity supply - were allowed to see their team's first World Cup game against Brazil. 
 
 But the broadcast gave new meaning to the term "action replay", making it onto the airwaves of the country's single, government-run channel more than 12 hours after the final whistle. 
 
 That, though, is far from unusual. 
 
 In fact, the latest match against Portugal is reported to be the first time a North Korean game played on foreign soil has been broadcast live back home. 
 
 It was a risky decision for two reasons. 
 
 Firstly, it was an open invitation for anyone who wanted to protest against North Korea's human rights record to have their messages beamed directly into Pyongyang living rooms. 
 
 And secondly, there was always the chance that the country's sporting heroes would get roundly and humiliatingly thrashed. 
 
 "I think because they played so well against Brazil in the last game, no-one in North Korea would have imagined that they'd lose so big this time," Kim Young-il tells me while watching the game in his Seoul apartment. 
 
 Continue reading the main story I'm sure the players will have to go though extreme re-education and self-criticism Kim Young-il North Korean living in Seoul 
 
 Mr Kim, 32, is a North Korean defector, who fled to the South in 1996 and he has mixed emotions about the 7-0 drubbing. 
 
 "On the one hand I feel proud when the team does well," he says. 
 
 "But on the other, I don't want them to do too well. Unlike in other countries it wouldn't be the star players who reap the rewards of the success, but [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il himself." 
 
 'Weak minds' 
 
 It's hard to know how much credence to give to the claims from the North Korean Football Association that the country's leader has been giving the team personal guidance and help with tactics. 
 
 But true or not, North Korea wouldn't be alone, of course, in wanting to exploit sporting success for political ends. 
 
 So what about a defeat? 
 
 Mr Kim shakes his head when he thinks of the fate that might await his former countrymen. 
 
 "The result will be blamed on their weak minds," he tells me. 
 
 "I'm sure the players will have to go though extreme re-education and self-criticism." 
 
 In the end, North Korea can be pleased about one thing. 
 
 There were no protests, not a single anti-North Korean placard in sight. 
 
 It's interesting to ponder why this might be. 
 
 Imagine the scenes that would have greeted the Burmese team had it qualified for this competition, or remember the scenes that greeted the Olympic torch as it made its way around the world en route to Beijing. 
 
 Continue reading the main story I always support our brothers when they're playing other countries Baek Kwang-gu South Korean supporting North Korea 
 
 North Korea is a country with a human rights record that would give both Burma and China a run for their money. 
 
 It allows no opposition, no free media and no religious freedom, and it keeps thousands of political opponents, and their families, in large forced labour camps. 
 
 Apart from Amnesty International, which used North Korea's opening game to highlight its concerns, there has been barely a peep about it. 
 
 Perhaps those who claim that sporting events of this kind can break down barriers and cultural divides have a point. 
 
 Elimination 
 
 At the very least, for the duration of 90 minutes, information-starved North Koreans got a rare reality check about the limits of their nation's powers on the international stage. 
 
 There is certainly no sign of any opposition to North Korea's participation here in the South. 
 
 At bars in central Seoul you can find groups of South Koreans cheering the North as loudly as their own team. 
 
 "Our enemy is the leader of North Korea, not the people," one fan, Baek Kwang-gu, tells me. 
 
 "I always support our brothers when they're playing other countries." 
 
 But the opportunity for praise and protest alike are coming to an end. 
 
 North Korea's defeat at the hands of Portugal now means certain elimination. 
 
 Perhaps it will also spell the end for its brief experiment in live football broadcasting and its people will slip back once more behind a sporting iron curtain. ||||| Of all the games to choose for a first live broadcast during this World Cup, a 7-0 drubbing was probably the last thing the authorities in North Korea wanted to see. But the isolated, football-loving nation witnessed its team's collapse to Portugal along with the rest of the world today as the state broadcaster, Korean Central Television, showed the entire game, despite a reputation for political caution and face-saving censorship. 
 
 Previous games in the tournament – including North Korea's narrow loss to Brazil – were screened several hours after they happened, but visitors to Pyongyang confirmed the country's second Group B match was broadcast in full with no noticeable delay. 
 
 The collapse in North Korea's fortunes was all the more surprising after their ultra-defensive strategy had frustrated Brazil for so long in the opening fixture. After today's match the players trooped silently back to the dressing room, heads down, and did not speak to reporters. 
 
 Perhaps fearful of the repercussions back home for his squad, North Korea's manager, Kim Jong-hun, attempted to deflect blame on to himself. "As the coach, it was my fault for not playing the right strategy," he said. "That is why we conceded so many goals." 
 
 North Korea were only a goal down at half-time but, chasing an equaliser, the team's much-vaunted blanket defence disintegrated. 
 
 "My players played to their full potential but technically we fell apart and could not stop their attacks," added Kim. "As the game went on the Portuguese attack became more aggressive. After the first goal we tried to pull one back but it just led to the team collapsing. The attack and defence was not balanced, the players became agitated and couldn't defend well." 
 
 Kim was, however, optimistic reaction in North Korea would not be too severe. "Back home I believe they will look to the next game and be rooting for us to play well in our final game and encourage us. We have not been able to reach our objectives but we have one game left to reinforce our mental abilities." 
 
 Ahead of the live screening there was considerable excitement in North Korea, where football is the most popular sport but most games, even in domestic and foreign leagues, are shown only after a delay of several hours or days. 
 
 The country's opening match against Brazil was reportedly not broadcast in full until 17 hours after it finished, and many people already knew the score via newspaper and radio reports. The World Cup draw – shown live across most of the world late last year – was not broadcast in North Korea until weeks later. 
 
 Authorities in Pyongyang have not disclosed their reasons for the earlier delays, but it is likely to be a combination of time differences (the Brazil game was played in the middle of the night in North Korea), technical issues (there is only one channel outside the capital), rights ownership, and censorship (North Korea's media is arguably more tightly controlled than any other in the world). 
 
 Foreign residents in North Korea said the news of the live broadcast spread like wildfire. "This is significant," said Simon Cockerell of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which has organised several trips to the isolated nation. 
 
 "I have seen a lot of games in North Korea and they never show them live. I doubt there has been a letter-writing campaign, but they do seem receptive to the public desire to see live football." 
 
 Last week the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union – a regional agent for Fifa – announced it would provide free coverage of the tournament so that North Korea's 23 million citizens can get a taste of life outside their homeland. The agreement was reportedly finalised only hours before the start of the tournament, which has given the local broadcaster little time to prepare. 
 
 At the last World Cup broadcasts were shared by the South Korean rights holder, but relations between the two sides of the peninsula have soured since the sinking of a South Korean ship with the loss of 46 lives this year. Earlier this month South Korea said it would not provide coverage of the tournament. 
 
 The political implications are hard to gauge. The heavy loss will certainly have been a blow to a pride-conscious nation, but the realism of many fans about their team's chances may have softened the impact. 
 
 While some hoped for revenge against Portugal – who knocked North Korea out of the World Cup during their last appearance in the finals, in 1966 – there was widespread understanding that they are a superior side. 
 
 Now out of the tournament, North Korea will be hoping to salvage some pride in their final game against Ivory Coast, though it remains to be seen whether the authorities will once again risk showing the game live.
– North Koreans, for the first and possibly only time, watched their nation's soccer team play on foreign soil yesterday live on TV. Censors, fearing the appearance of anti-government protesters at matches, usually slap lengthy delays on such broadcasts—17 hours in the case of North Korea's game against Brazil. No protesters appeared at yesterday's game against Portugal, although the North Korean side suffered a 7-0 hammering, the Guardian reports. "I think because they played so well against Brazil in the last game, no one in North Korea would have imagined that they'd lose so big this time," a North Korean defector living in Seoul tells the BBC, predicting that the team will be treated harshly when they return home. "The result will be blamed on their weak minds," he says. "I'm sure the players will have to go though extreme re-education and self-criticism."