Festive send-off in North Korea as soccer team leaves to train for 1st World Cup in 44 years

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Colorful send-off as NKorean team departs for WCup

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea’s national soccer players received a festive send-off as they head abroad to train for their first World Cup in 44 years.

Broadcaster APTN in Pyongyang reported Saturday that residents waved North Korean flags outside the airport as the players arrived. Footage showed women waving flowers as the team boarded the plane.

Coach Kim Jong Hun is promising “a great success.” He declined to say whether the team would be heading to Zimbabwe.

The team had been planning to train in Zimbabwe but activists there have vowed to protest the North Korean visit. Many are still angry that North Korean troops trained the Zimbabwean soldiers accused of killing tens of thousands to quell an uprising in the 1980s.