Sport in North Korea
The state is mostly known as the "Hermit Kingdom", mainly due to its isolation from the rest of the world. But that does not mean that they do not enjoy sports as much as everybody else. As a matter of fact, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has a rather obsessive look at team sports such as football and basketball.
Despite its well known dislike of western countries, especially the United States, North Korea shares a lot of the western world's love affair with football. Basketball is also very popular, as a matter of fact, NBA star Dennis Rodman has regularly visited North Korea to help train the national basketball team.
The DPRK Football Association was established in 1945 and is the governing body for all things football, and became a member of FIFA in 1958. They first advanced to the FIFA World Cup in 1966 where they lost to Portugal with a final score of 5-3. The national football team did not qualify again for the World Cup until 2010. The women's national football team has performed a bit better by taking the 2001 and 2003 AFC Women's Asian Cups and was also runners up in 1993 and 1997. They also qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup three times (1999, 2003, 2011)
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to North Korea. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.
Popular sports of North Korea
- Football (Soccer), basketball
North Korea Sporting Success
- Jong Song-ok won marathon gold at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics in Seville - the country's only athletics medal at a major competition
Great athletes from North Korea
North Korea Sports trivia
- North Korea participates in the East Asian Games.
North Korea at major events
- North Korea at the Summer Olympics
- North Korea at the Winter Olympics
- North Korea at the FIFA World Cup
- North Korea women's football team at the FIFA Women's World Cup
Past sporting events hosted in North Korea
- 1979 World Table Tennis Championships in Pyongyang
Upcoming sporting events in North Korea
Annual sporting events held in North Korea
- Pyongyang Marathon- held in April every year.
Sporting Facilities in North Korea
- Rungrado May Day Stadium Pyongyang Nth Korea
- Kim Il-sung Stadium, Pyongyang
- Pyongyang Golf Complex - North Korea's only golf course
Other
- North Korea participates in the East Asian Games.
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