North Korean football team berated for failure

The North Korea authorities could do with a reminder that football is just a game.

The US-based Radio Free Asia reports that the majority of the North Korean football team have been subject to a six hour public reprimand for "betraying" the communist government (i.e. not winning the World Cup), according to The Guardian.

The public reprimand included detailed analysis of individual mistakes in play, provided by the country’s main sports broadcaster, as well as players being forced to denounce coach Kim Jong-Hun.

In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who did not perform well enough to satisify the government were sent to prison camps.

During the World Cup, I blogged on my concerns about North Korea playing in the 2010 World Cup. Should sport be free of politics, or should we show a vile dictatorship how the rest of the world feels about it? Today's news adds to the case for the latter.