North Korean soccer team gets rapturous official welcome after World Cup qualification

North Korean soccer team gets rapturous welcome

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s soccer team returned home to a rapturous official welcome on Saturday after having qualified for the World Cup for the first time since its memorable 1966 campaign.

Players and coaches were greeted at Pyongyang’s airport with a brass band, handed flowers by the waiting crowd, and received congratulations from officials of the isolated communist regime.

After posing for photos, coach Kim Jong Hun lauded his players.

“Our footballers played very well, they had the strong mental power and the devotion of spirit necessary, finally, to get through and qualify for the 2010 World Cup,” Kim said on SNTV.

North Korea qualified for the 2010 tournament in South Africa by drawing with Saudi Arabia in the final group game of their Asian qualifying group on Wednesday.

It is the first time the country has made it since they stunned the soccer world by reaching the 1966 quarterfinals. On that occasion they beat Italy and led Portugal 3-0 in their quarterfinal before succumbing 5-3.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il used the success of the Red Mosquitoes — as the 1966 team was known — to further his political career, a former head coach of North Korea’s national team told The Associated Press.

Kim “personally managed a soccer team for about three years, visiting stadiums and taking good care of his players,” said Moon Ki-nam, who defected to South Korea in 2004.

In qualifying for the 2010 tournament, North Korea relied on a defense backed by goalkeeper Ri Myong Guk.

“When I was keeping goal, I felt like I was defending the gateway to my motherland,” Ri said on Saturday.

The government banned the team from traveling abroad following stinging defeats to both Japan and South Korea in the qualifying stages for the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

The country did not take part in qualifying for the 1998 or 2002 events, and failed to qualify for the 2006 tournament.