The mysterious North Korea soccer team revealed

The World

North Korea enters today’s match against Brazil shrouded in mystery — nobody knows much about their coach, most of their players, or the way they play. The same could be said for their 1966 counterparts, who shocked the world by defeating Italy 1-0, and became the first Asian nation to go past the first round in the World Cup. Can the country pull another upset?

Yoree Koh, who writes for The Wall Street Journal blog, “Japan Real Time,” helps us unravel some of the mystery of the team, along with BBC correspondent in Seoul John Sudworth. We also learn more about the North Korean player that people seem to know something about, Jong Tae-Se, who was born and raised in Japan to South Korean parents, but has decided to play for North Korea and its supreme leader, Kim Jong-Il.

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