
 North Korea: The event was held in Pyongyang on April 28. It was the first time that the Olympic torch has traveled to North Korea. A crowd of thousands waving pink paper flowers and small flags with the Beijing Olympics logo were organized by the authoritarian regime watched the beginning of the relay in Pyongyang, some waving Chinese flags. The event was presided over by the head of the country's parliament, Kim Yong Nam. The North, an ally of China, has been critical of disruptions to the torch relay elsewhere and has supported Beijing in its actions against protests in Tibet. Kim passed the torch to the first runner Pak Du Ik, who played on North Korea's 1966 World Cup soccer team, as he began the 19-kilometre route through Pyongyang. The relay began from the large sculpted flame of the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of Juche, or "self-reliance", created by the country's late founding President Kim Il Sung, father of leader Kim Jong Il, who did not attend.