North Korea's Winter Olympics squad could face jail

North Korea's Winter Olympics squad could face jail



Kim Jong-un's Winter Olympics squad will return to North Korea having failed to win any medals amid fears their lack of success in PyeongChang could land them in jail.



The dictator sent 22 athletes to the sports extravaganza in South Korea, supported by an army of 280 cheerleaders.



But they will return to Pyongyang without any of their sports stars making it onto podiums.



In the past, there have been reports of teams being punished or publicly shamed for failing to deliver at major international sports events. The tyrant's grandfather Kim Il Sung is said to have arrested and locked up the entire 1966 World Cup squad in gulags after they were knocked out of the tournament in the second round.



North Korea, having qualified for the tournament for the first time, slayed European giants Italy 1-0 setting up a clash with fellow first-time qualifiers Portugal in the next round.



They were 3-0 at half time but threw the game away, eventually and lost 5-3.



Worse was to come when it emerged that players had been seen 'carrying on' with women and drinking just days before the crunch match.



On returning home, authorities arrested the players, publicly shamed them and put them in a concentration camp.





In his book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang, defector Kang Chol-hwan revealed how one member of the team became famous for his ability to endure torture while another was nicknamed 'The Cockroach' for eating any bug he could catch to stave off hunger while being kept in a so-called 'Sweatbox' chamber.



In 2010, there were claims that the North Korean World Cup coach and players were punished by the government after they lost all three of their games in the tournament in South Africa.



Radio Free Asia said that the Korean squad, apart from two foreign-based players, were subjected to 'harsh ideological criticism' after their team conceded the most goals of all 32 at the tournament.



Their coach Kim Jong-hun was also publicly humiliated and sentenced to hard labour for their performance, it claimed.