¡Qué miedo!

North Korea Has Some Work to Do on Handling Its Setbacks in a Healthy Manner

• 7/30/10 at 1:46 PM

Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images

When the North Korean soccer team returned home from a disastrous performance in the World Cup earlier this month, it was not greeted with a "Hey, you did the best that a malnourished group of soccer players who trained in a country with no grass ever could. We're proud of you for trying." Instead, they were subjected to a public shaming in front of hundreds of people.

[Radio Free Asia] says each player was individually called out for his failings during the World Cup. Each then was forced to criticize his head coach, Kim Jong Hun. Rumors abound that Kim has been forced out of the Worker's Party, North Korea's ruling group, and into labor at a construction site.

That may sound psychotic, and it is, but at least this year the players and coaches were not sent to a prison camp. A mere public hazing is practically enlightened in comparison.

North Korean soccer team forced into six-hour long public inquisition after losing at World Cup [NYDN]
North Korean football team shamed in six-hour public inquiry over World Cup [Telegraph UK]