North Koreans cheer South’s victory over Greece: Report

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North Koreans cheer South’s victory over Greece: Report

North Koreans rejoiced over South Korea’s victory over Greece in the World Cup last Saturday, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported yesterday from the North Korean capital.

“The match where compatriots played has drawn great attention,” the Chosun Sinbo, a newspaper run out of Tokyo by the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, reported.

“The [Pyongyang] residents, without an exception, cheered for the South Korean team,” the article said.

South Korea defeated Greece 2-0 in its first group match of the South Africa World Cup, where North Korea has also qualified.

North Korea, whose squad was set to play Brazil early this morning, Korean time, aired footage of the South Korean match on its official television station even though it lacks proper broadcasting rights.

The Chosun Sinbo also reported that North Koreans were “riveted” while watching the World Cup specials, which were broadcast for most of Sunday.

“Who would like to see a nation with the same bloodline lose?” the paper quoted one North Korean as saying.

“What we detest is not the South Korean people,” but the conservative government in Seoul.

North Korea qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 44 years, drawing into Group G with five-time World Cup champion Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal.

Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years since Seoul blamed Pyongyang for sinking its Cheonan warship in March near the contested Yellow Sea border.


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