4 ‘missing’ North Korean players show up at practice

Published 10:07 am Friday, June 18, 2010

TEMBISA, South Africa — The four North Korean football players reported as “missing” have turned up for World Cup practice.

The four players missed North Korea’s match Tuesday against Brazil. FIFA denied the players were ever missing, saying their names were left off the 23-man squad because they weren’t going to compete.

The players — Pak Sung Hyok, An Chol Hyok, Kim Kyong Il and Kim Myong Won — were on the field for training as usual today.

Video shot by broadcaster AP Television News on Thursday night showed three of four North Korean players sitting on the team bus.

Today, the four players were at Makhulong Stadium stretching, jogging and kicking soccer balls before a crowd of hundreds of journalists.

Teams typically supply the names of a 23-man squad before a World Cup match. North Korea only handed in 19 names for the match on Tuesday against Brazil, which the South Americans won 2-1.

North Korea’s next match is against Portugal on Monday in Cape Town.

Isolated and impoverished North Korea is competing in the World Cup for the first time in 44 years.

The team is sequestered in a tightly secured hotel north of Johannesburg and has largely stayed out of the public eye. Teammates dine and travel together as a group, going between their hotel and the training grounds or to a gym for sporadic workouts, always accompanied by team officials.

The team bus arrived at Makhulong Stadium and was met by a crush of reporters and TV cameras and photographers. With curtains drawn, the bus pulled up close to the entrance, away from the media glare.

A news conference scheduled for today was canceled at the last minute, but reporters were allowed to watch about 20 minutes of the training session.

All four “missing” players were visible on the field. The players did not acknowledge the press.

The team’s participation in soccer’s biggest event comes as Pyongyang faces international scrutiny over its nuclear program and the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.