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North Korean football team shamed in six-hour public inquiry over World Cup


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North Korean football team shamed in six-hour public inquiry over World Cup

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North Korea's football team has been shamed in a six-hour public inquisition and the team's coach has been accused of "betraying" the reclusive leader's heir apparent following their failure at the World Cup, according to reports.

By Barney Henderson

Published: 12:15PM BST 30 Jul 2010

The team's coach, Kim Jong-hun, was reportedly forced to become a builder and has been expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea. Photo: REUTERS

The entire squad was forced onto a stage at the People's Palace of Culture and subjected to criticism from Pak Myong-chol, the sports minister, as 400 government officials, students and journalists watched.

The players were subjected to a "grand debate" on July 2 because they failed in their "ideological struggle" to succeed in South Africa, Radio Free Asia and South Korean media reported.

The team's coach, Kim Jong-hun, was reportedly forced to become a builder and has been expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea.

The coach was punished for "betraying" Kim Jong-un - one of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il's sons and heir apparent.

The country, in its first World Cup since 1966, lost all three group games – including a 7-0 defeat to Portugal.

The broadcast of live games had been banned to avoid national embarrassment, but after the spirited 2-1 defeat to Brazil, state television made the Portugal game its first live sports broadcast ever.

Following ideological criticism, the players were then allegedly forced to blame the coach for their defeats.

Only two players avoided the inquisition - Japanese-born Jong Tae-se and An Yong-hak, who flew straight to Japan after the tournament.

However, media in South Korea said the players got off lightly by North Korean standards.

"In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps," a South Korean intelligence source told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

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My wife, while watching N. Korea's full out defensive play against Brazil in their inaugral World Cup match, commented that they seemed to be not "loose" enough to score, let alone to win the match. I said, "Look at the face of the coach when the camera pans over to him. These guys are literally in peril for their lives, should they lose. They are playing for a tie"

It was reported that Uday Hussein was minister in charge of Iraq's team for the 2002 Cup and that some of those players disappeared after returning to Iraq without a win.

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How about...

- the US carpet bombing Cambodia and then supporting the Khmer Rouge during the Vietnam War?

- the US assassinating Salvador Allende in Chile which led to the brutal dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet?

- the US getting rid of the elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, in Guatemala?

- the US arming and training the Contra terrorists in Nicaragua using money they used from the sale of weapons to Iran?

- the US support for Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq back in the 80s?

- the US intervening again in the small island of Grenada?

- the US intervening in a long, drawn-out civil war in Colombia?

- the US arming and training Salvadorean death squadrons?

- the Bay of Pigs in Cuba?

- the US conducting regime change in Iran and placing the Shah in charge?

- the US arming and training the Mujahadin in Afghanistan?

- the US arming with weapons of mass destruction and funding Israel to the tune of billions every year?

- the US supporting the KLA terrorists in Serbia?

Damn. I'm just shocked we haven't extended "help" to North Korea or overthrown that regime and replaced it with one of ours... perhaps because there's no oil, no resources we need, and no Korean lobby to get this going... and because China holds all of our debt and corporate deals :beatnik:

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I see a post was removed but I understand why it was both posted and removed ;)

While I don't agree with you posting that BA ,because you live in America where generations of Americans have lost boat loads of blood to defend your right to say it, I guess you can say what you like.

Now if you lived in N.Korea or one of the other countries you mentioned... :o :couch:

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How about...

- the US carpet bombing Cambodia and then supporting the Khmer Rouge during the Vietnam War?

- the US assassinating Salvador Allende in Chile which led to the brutal dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet?

- the US getting rid of the elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, in Guatemala?

- the US arming and training the Contra terrorists in Nicaragua using money they used from the sale of weapons to Iran?

- the US support for Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq back in the 80s?

- the US intervening again in the small island of Grenada?

- the US intervening in a long, drawn-out civil war in Colombia?

- the US arming and training Salvadorean death squadrons?

- the Bay of Pigs in Cuba?

- the US conducting regime change in Iran and placing the Shah in charge?

- the US arming and training the Mujahadin in Afghanistan?

- the US arming with weapons of mass destruction and funding Israel to the tune of billions every year?

- the US supporting the KLA terrorists in Serbia?

Damn. I'm just shocked we haven't extended "help" to North Korea or overthrown that regime and replaced it with one of ours... perhaps because there's no oil, no resources we need, and no Korean lobby to get this going... and because China holds all of our debt and corporate deals :beatnik:

Why don't you go to North Korea and straighten this out?

You always have the answers...Do you have a job? A life?

Why not try getting one of the two?

Then go to North Korea...and tell us how happy you are...

I can only assume that you're not a very happy person...you don't try to do anything except complain (and it gets old)

But, for once...tell everybody how you really think the things should be...

And have manners :smirk: :beatnik:

Edited by Guest
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It's great living in America. However, BA listed a bunch of facts about some s**tty things America has done. There's not really anything to argue about, they're all true. It's a rare occasion for me to come to the defense of Mr. BA, we are more likely to butt heads, but in this case I see no reason for the reaction to his post. He wasn't saying we're worse than North Korea, or even as bad as them. However, we are substantially more powerful than North Korea, so our wrong-doings have more of a global impact, whereas their human rights violations, unforgivable as they may be, are a fairly contained issue. This does not excuse them, but we in America should not be so quick to point fingers while we allow our own government and corporations do horrible things under our watch (or lack thereof). America is a fantastic country to live in, but it's not the golden idol of morality that it pretends to be.

"America is the greatest, best country God has given man on the face of the Earth."

- Sean Hannity

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

- Samuel Johnson

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I see a post was removed but I understand why it was both posted and removed ;)

While I don't agree with you posting that BA ,because you live in America where generations of Americans have lost boat loads of blood to defend your right to say it, I guess you can say what you like.

Now if you lived in N.Korea or one of the other countries you mentioned... :o :couch:

But, you see, there was a time and a place when I couldn't have said that about the US - because it would've led me being tortured and killed for it. I didn't live in North Korea, but I was born in a place where the typical public service announcement told such things as "don't kick the ball or the can on the side of the road." What an odd thing to announce, right? That is, until you go around town and you see men, women, and children with limbs blown off due to the land-mines (which were typically booby-trapped in the guise of a ball or a can).

The reason I couldn't say that back then is the reason why we had to leave everything to escape... come here to the US - ILLEGALLY, I might add (HA!) - and start from zero. Do you know what The School of the Americas is? This is the place that graduates mass murderers, killers, and insane despots. You wouldn't know this because you or any of your loved ones have never had to deal with the results of their training - other people have, though. Outta sight, outta might.

http://www.soaw.org/

Why don't you go to North Korea and straighten this out?

You always have the answers...Do you have a job? A life?

Why not try getting one of the two?

Then go to North Korea...and tell us how happy you are...

I can only assume that you're not a very happy person...you don't try to do anything except complain (and it gets old)

But, for once...tell everybody how you really think the things should be...

And have manners :smirk: :beatnik:

Another satisfied customer :beatnik:

Some people don't know how lucky they are to live in America...

Yeah, and other poor fools just couldn't make the cut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_Lottery

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So, what your saying, is that the American people not only gave you a safe harbor and prevented you from going through the things you describe but we also basically disgust you?

Your ancestor's didn't (like many of ours) lay down their life's to make this country one of the greatest countries in the world? And yet, you have the right ( thanks to those that sacrificed their life's) to scorn us like you just did by posting what you did?

I don't understand people like you Mr. Bitter Almouds. Your so willing to come here and take what this land offers and then say what a rotten bunch we are. We are not perfect by any means and some of us have the right to say that. You don't.

When people like you come here and say what you did without your people dying to give you the right to do so? Personally, I find it very insulting and if you feel that way, go back to your homeland. I'm sure they would do better by you and yours then we ever could :beady:

How typical and how sad. It amazes me that people like you break our laws to be here and yet disrespect us for allowing it. WTF!!! How typical :beady:

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So, what your saying, is that the American people not only gave you a safe harbor and prevented you from going through the things you describe but we also basically disgust you?

Your ancestor's didn't (like many of ours) lay down their life's to make this country one of the greatest countries in the world? And yet, you have the right ( thanks to those that sacrificed their life's) to scorn us like you just did by posting what you did?

I don't understand people like you Mr. Bitter Almouds. Your so willing to come here and take what this land offers and then say what a rotten bunch we are. We are not perfect by any means and some of us have the right to say that. You don't.

When people like you come here and say what you did without your people dying to give you the right to do so? Personally, I find it very insulting and if you feel that way, go back to your homeland. I'm sure they would do better by you and yours then we ever could :beady:

How typical and how sad. It amazes me that people like you break our laws to be here and yet disrespect us for allowing it. WTF!!! How typical :beady:

I don't understand your reaction towards me in light of events I had absolutely no control over. I merely retort facts about the effects of our govt.'s past (and present) foreign policies and this is the totality of the response you can muster? Some half-thought, ad hominem thingy? I think you have confused my criticism of the US govt. with criticism of its people. If you read back to what I wrote, I did not say anything about its people. You do know that all you have to do is step into any public library in any city, any county, any school, any state, and have access to all this information and more? Hell, you can do it the lazy way and just go to Wikipedia.

In a way, you are fortunate to be the stereotypical ignorant American renown throughout the world because if this is how you confront truths unknown to you it would probably take something catastrophic and scarring for you to actually gain any kind of awareness for anyone else beyond the scope of whom you immediately recognise (okay, noooow I am criticising certain types of Americans). Aaaaaall through school from elementary up to university, we are taught in civics classes that it is our duty as residents and citizens to be informed of the going-ons in our govt. - and to question it. Another thing that is really sad here is that our education system failed to teach you the most rudimentary things about the history of your own nation; man, do I feel totally jipped that my family's taxes from their hard-earned income funded your education. I'm a bit shocked because I'm the product of that same govt.-funded education, so I know it doesn't take a genius to cruise through school (I didn't even know a lick of English when I started hahah). After all, I'm just some miscreant, maladjusted, ungrateful, unhappy, jobless foreigner to a couple of you. However, it takes someone special to not have learnt as much as I have after a few years of schooling :beatnik:

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If you read back to what I wrote, I did not say anything about its people.

But ya did. Do you remember the part of "The United States Constitution" where it says "We the people"?

Ya know what BA. I don't know where you get all this "we" crap from. People like you make me sick.

I know everything you posted is true. It's in our history for Gods sake. But, wtf !!!! People like you come here wanting our blood to save you and yours and we do, then you think you have the right to come to a public message board and tell us we suck for doing it ??!!

I'm part Native American part Irish and part English with some Scot thrown in. My people have shed their life blood to give you the right to spew your tripe.

You know about Indians and dogs tags? Read the history of what made us who and what we are. If you don't like what we stand for, simply leave. Do not remind us of or failures. I'm pretty sure none of us have forgotten them.

I would like you to tell me what makes you think you had/have a right to criticize the US like you do? Would you sacrifice your life for us. Have your people sacrificed for this country? If push came to shove, would ya? Me and mine (and many, many others have) would you?!?

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Thank you, Americans, for voting for FDRoosevelt and then Truman, who decided to intervene in WWII. I don't think we Europeans, Frenchs, Jews (I know, JuanCa, you don't like Israel, though I like you...)comunists, gypsies, mediterranean people, etc. wouldn't stand a chance to survive if not for the American help in 1941/5.

Part of my family is American, some of them from generations ago and some others of Spanish and Italian origin. They love their country though they don't always agree with their politics.

Thank you, my American songfactor friends.

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But ya did. Do you remember the part of "The United States Constitution" where it says "We the people"?

Ya know what BA. I don't know where you get all this "we" crap from. People like you make me sick.

I know everything you posted is true. It's in our history for Gods sake. But, wtf !!!! People like you come here wanting our blood to save you and yours and we do, then you think you have the right to come to a public message board and tell us we suck for doing it ??!!

I'm part Native American part Irish and part English with some Scot thrown in. My people have shed their life blood to give you the right to spew your tripe.

You know about Indians and dogs tags? Read the history of what made us who and what we are. If you don't like what we stand for, simply leave. Do not remind us of or failures. I'm pretty sure none of us have forgotten them.

I would like you to tell me what makes you think you had/have a right to criticize the US like you do? Would you sacrifice your life for us. Have your people sacrificed for this country? If push came to shove, would ya? Me and mine (and many, many others have) would you?!

Hahahah. Whoa, there. So many questions. I thought you stood for my right to freely express myself, as it is guaranteed in the Constitution, but, then, you call out for my expulsion in the same breath. I wholeheartedly disagree with some people, and I accept it as a truth I have to live/deal with; the only thing I require of them is to do the same in my instance. Thing is, I have nowhere to go anymore: not only did the last of my family abandon everything when we fled, but we had to renounce our past citizenship when we became naturalised citizens of the US. In summary, I am not trying to violently overthrow the govt., nor do I espouse any other form of govt., nor am I allied to any foreign potentate, and I took an oath to take up arms if the US govt. were to order me to do so. Hell, if I am convicted of a felony, it means I run the risk of being deported; even as an illegal alien, I've been paying taxes doing work that virtually nobody would do hahahah (it's true!). What more do you require? You want me to get a lobotomy, so I don't have to think about the repercusions of the decisions our govt. makes today? You want me to take the govt.'s word at face value without doing a little research, unquestioningly obeying? That's scary. Knowing the actions and results of US foreign policy towards its neighbours to the south, you still have the gall to ask about "sacrifices"? It doesn't matter what I say because you don't give a damn; you would never see the hundreds of thousands of dead - people who died as a result of long, drawn-out civil wars the US was funding (and is still funding in some instances) - you would never see them as "people," but more as "collateral damage." That is revolting and appalling... because those people had no choice in those matters; they just had the ungodly misfortune of being born at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Name one successful democracy the US has created from its [post-WWII] military foreign policy?

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I must say I did go a little over the top with my rant and this isn't really the place to do that. It is a music site after all. I probably wouldn't have been such a b***h if it hadn't been a bad week for me were illegals are concern. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you even if I still don't really like what you said. You do have a right to say it.

I have no problem with immigrants or political refugees at all. Just people that sneak across our boarders and cause harm.

Thing is, I have nowhere to go anymore.

I don't really understand that statement tho. Don't you like it here? You said you became a citizen so to my mind you went through the legal process right? So doesn't that make the US your home ?

Most of your posts sounded to me like you feel stranded or trapped here and would rather be elsewhere. That was part of the reason btw that I became so hostile.

As for the rest of the world and the misery it contains, of course I'm am aware of it and of course I don't understand how my fellow human beings can cause such grief and misery but you can't really lay all the blame for it at the feet of the US either. It may not have been your intent to do that but you did kinda make it sound that way to me.

We don't always bring harm to countries ya know. I think removing the Hussein's from the planet saved a lot of innocent life's in just that one act.

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BA, I know you are an intelligent person. I also know you posted your convictions out of a desire to see your country do the right things to make the world a better place for everyone. (I wish more leaders of nations felt as you do.) Earlier, Tim mentioned Shirley Sherrod. For you to take specific covert/military events generated by moments of political complexity and parade them out as indicators of the soul of the USA is patently unfair, in terms of contextual consideration. Each of the events you listed could be deconstructed to determine efficacy or ultimate failure, but no one making the decisions that were made to enact those events had the luxury of the historical record that we possess today.

If you would merely take a few moments to balance your spikes of failure with the additions the USA has made to the world, your post would sound more balanced and reasoned.

I find it interesting that Edna invoked the names Roosevelt and Truman. Today, were those two (along with Churchill) to prosecute a war as they did in the 1940's, they would be scortched by the media and by most members of their own political party. (Imagine the death of 5000 troops in one day! Or use of two nuclear weapons among civilians!) Yet, in light of historical context, we know these three as bold leaders and insightful liberators, as well as complex personalities of incongruiously generous natures.

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