"Very aggressive match", "dirty insults": Tottenham Son striker returns to the shock of North Korea – South Korea (PHOTOS)

Soccer

The South Korean footballers were unaware that their historic shock to the North Koreans in an empty stadium in Pyongyang would be so aggressive. "It was like war," summed up one of their leader.

The match for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers ended in a draw (0-0) on Tuesday, in front of a handful of spectators, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

It was the first meeting in competition between the men's selections of the two countries still technically at war. But it was not broadcast live and no foreign journalist was accredited.

Beyond the sporting chronicle, the atmosphere of this peninsular derby poses real questions about the prospects for inter-Korean sports cooperation, which played a key role in the relaxation observed in 2018.

Until the last minute, the South Koreans did not know that the game would be played behind closed doors at Kim Il Sung Stadium.

"We expected to see 50,000 North Koreans arrive at the opening of the gate, but nobody came," said Vice President of the South Korean Federation (KFA) Choi Young-il when he returned Thursday morning at Incheon Airport.

"The grids never opened and I was really surprised, like the players and the coach."

"Many insults"

The leader said he confused his lack of spectators with a counterpart from the North Korean federation who said, "Maybe they did not want to see that."

Captain of the Taeguk Warriors, as the South Korean selection is known, the star of Tottenham Son Heung-min was stunned by the aggression of the opponent.

"The match was very aggressive, and going home without being injured is a feat," said the winger. "The North Koreans were really up to scratch, there were a lot of dirty insults."

Mr. Choi does not remember having ever seen such a level of aggression on a lawn: "It was like war."

It must be acknowledged that the diplomatic context has been sealed for several months on the peninsula. Pyongyang has multiplied the missile tests to protest against maneuvers between South Korea and the United States.

The North, which has slammed the door of negotiations with Washington on the nuclear, also discards any revival of the inter-Korean dialect.

It is far from the bestowals of 2018, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in took advantage of the Pyeongchang Olympics to break the ice and meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times.

The two men had even launched a draft joint application to the organization of the Olympics of 2032, which now seems very hypothetical.

The diplomacy of sport in check

Although the meeting was historic, the official North Korean news agency KCNA did the bare minimum in its report. One sentence: "The attack and counter-attack match ended in a draw."

For his part, the South Korean daily Joongang Daily appeared ironically in an editorial on Thursday: "We should perhaps just thank North Korea for allowing our football players to come home safe and sound."

"How can South Korea consider co-organizing the Olympic Games with such a cunning counterpart?"

Infantino also confessed his disappointment: "I was looking forward to seeing a full stadium for this historic match but I was disappointed to see that there were no spectators in the stands."

"We were surprised by this and by several other points, especially concerning the live broadcast and the problems with visas and foreign journalists," the FIFA president said in a statement.

In the absence of foreign reporters, the only echo of the match came from the sites of FIFA and the Asian Confederation (AFC) which were allowed to disclose the minimum amount of factual information.

Infantino had previously suggested the idea of ​​a joint bid for the Women's World Cup in 2023. But many South Koreans are increasingly skeptical about the diplomacy of sport.

"How a country that prohibits live broadcasts and the presence of supporters could organize a World Cup," questioned a user.