South Korean captain Son Heung-min (C) walks off the field after going down 4-0 against Brazil in the countries’ round of 16 match at the FIFA World Cup at Stadium 974 in Doha on Dec. 5, 2022. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s World Cup team is in a tough spot after losing to Ghana:
Korea’s Kim Young-gwon during the World Cup Group H soccer match between Korea and Ghana, at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Nov. 28. AP-Yonhap
Korea’s World Cup hopes are hanging by a slender thread after a 3-2 defeat against Ghana in Qatar on Monday. With just one point from the first two games in Group H, Paulo Bento’s men are going to need a convincing win over Portugal on Friday and hope that other results are favorable.
While the game had excitement for the neutral, there was, ultimately, disappointment for the Taeguk Warriors who will be left to regret defensive mistakes and missed chances. Ghana took a two goal lead in the first half, but the Taeguk Warriors came roaring back with two goals in the space of three second half minutes from Cho Gue-sung who became the first Korean to score more than once in a World Cup game. More defensive issues helped the Africans retake the lead and, this time, they held onto it despite plenty of pressure from the Reds.
This maybe South Korea’s most impressive World Cup win since 2002 even though it was ultimately meaningless since they were eliminated from the knockout stage of 16 teams:
South Korean goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo (R) makes a stop on Timo Werner of Germany (second from L in green) during their teams’ Group F match at the 2018 FIFA World Cup at Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia, on June 27, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korea stunned Germany 2-0 while being eliminated in the group stage at the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday, bringing the defending champions down with them.
South Korea needed to beat Germany by at least two goals and have Mexico defeat Sweden in the other Group F match Wednesday. The Taeguk Warriors took care of their own end at Kazan Arena in Kazan, some 800 kilometers east of Moscow, with Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min each scoring in second-half stoppage time. But Sweden made it all moot by beating Mexico 3-0 in Ekaterinburg.
South Korea, which earlier fell to Sweden and Mexico, finished third in Group F with three points, while netting three goals and conceding three. Sweden won the group with six points, beating Mexico, which also had six points, on goal difference.
Germany unceremoniously bowed of the tournament with three points, losing to South Korea in goal difference and becoming the third straight World Cup champions to miss the knockout stage in title defense. [Yonhap]
Co-hosting the World Cup would be the ultimate propaganda win for North Korea because it legitimizes the Kim regime and can be used to show how the world is groveling in awe of the Kim regime’s nuclear and ICBM programs which should be perfected by then:
In this photo provided by South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) poses with FIFA President Gianni Infantino after their meeting on June 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
South Korea will face roadblocks in its bid to bring the world’s greatest football competition to Northeast Asia.
In his meeting with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino on Monday, President Moon Jae-in suggested forming a regional bloc with communist North Korea and other Northeast Asian countries to jointly host the FIFA World Cup in 2030.
According to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, Infantino said there will likely be “difficulties,” but also said such a vision itself “can be a very powerful message.” [Yonhap]
The North Koreans have been using near slave labor for decades now in places like the Kaesong Industrial Complex or Siberian logging sites. So this latest news is nothing new:
Thousands of migrant labourers from North Korea are toiling for years on construction sites in Qatar for virtually no pay – including on the vast new metropolis that is the centrepiece of the World Cup – in what may amount to “state-sponsored slavery”.
According to testimonies from workers and defectors, labourers from the reclusive state said they receive almost no salaries in person while in the Gulf emirate during the three years they typically spend there.
They work in the expectation they will collect their earnings when they return to North Korea, but according to a series of testimonies from defectors and experts, workers receive as little as 10% of their salaries when they go home, and some may receive nothing. One North Korean worker at a construction site in central Doha told the Guardian: “We are here to earn foreign currency for our nation.” (The Guardian)
