North Korean Soccer Fans Are Actually Chinese "Volunteers"

[RightinNYC]

http://deadspin.com/5564578/north-korean-soccer-fans-are-actually-chinese-volunteers

North Korea's World Cup debut elicited touching stories about the ragtag group of soccer fans "hand-picked" by the Communist regime to support their squad in South Africa. Turns out they were hand-picked for their skill at not being Korean.

The UK's Telegraph reported last month that China had already recruited actors and provided them with tickets to South Africa, so they could go and pretend to root for their sort-of allies. No North Korea citizen could possibly get a visa to leave the country and even if they could, they could never afford the bus trip to Pretoria. Even so, some the fans and some media outlets went along with the ruse, even as Chinese officials admitted as much to Reuters.

...

Sure, North Korea could have actually selected an elite group of propaganda-loving supporters to represent their country as spectators, but the last time they did that, the group of mini-skirted cheerleaders who attended a tournament in South Korea broke their promise not to reveal to their countrymen what they saw south of the DMZ. They reportedly ended up in concentration camps.

****in el oh el

 

[Andalublue]

North Korean Soccer Fans Are Actually Chinese "Volunteers"



****in el oh el

Of course, the NK regime is triple nuts. Evil, paranoid, mendacious and stupid. But the team are terrific! If anyone watched the game last night they'll have enjoyed a perfromance from the North Koreans of tenacious, passionate, skillful and disciplined football. They almost held Brazil. Brazil! It took two pieces of Brazilian footballing genius to beat them, but only just. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them play and they can have a lot of pride in what they almost achieved. What bog-brush head and his numpties does with that pride back at home is a different matter! I reckon PRK can beat Portugal and it'd be great to see.

 

[Apocalypse]

North Korean Soccer Fans Are Actually Chinese "Volunteers"



****in el oh el

What's even more hilarious is that I'm not even ****ing surprised. :lol:

 

[Gipper]

I knew this before it was even reported. First of all, anyone who knows communo-Korea knows that people aren't free to leave. And if they were, they couldn't afford it. In addition, they showed some of the "fans" during the game. You could look at them and tell they were not Korean. Although you may not be able to tell who is from Laos or Cambodia or minor countries, if you look at enough Asians you can tell who's Japanese, Chinese, and Korean at least. That's why I laughed at the bad guy in Karate Kid II. He was Japanese as much as a multi-freckled redhead is English.

Those guys in the stands were Chinese, rather obviously.

 

[ludahai]

Of course, the NK regime is triple nuts. Evil, paranoid, mendacious and stupid. But the team are terrific! If anyone watched the game last night they'll have enjoyed a perfromance from the North Koreans of tenacious, passionate, skillful and disciplined football. They almost held Brazil. Brazil! It took two pieces of Brazilian footballing genius to beat them, but only just. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them play and they can have a lot of pride in what they almost achieved. What bog-brush head and his numpties does with that pride back at home is a different matter! I reckon PRK can beat Portugal and it'd be great to see.

I don't know why people are so surpised they can play. They DID qualify after all... There are some good teams in Asia they qualified over.

However, I don't know if anyone in the country can even watch the match. The South Koreans said that they would not send the Korean feed to the DPRK.