Soccer scenes in North Korean novels

I'm willing to bet that in every culture, sports stories are used to impress values upon young people, or in other words to indoctrinate them. And what sport is more universally beloved across cultures than soccer? 

The Beautiful Game has been featured in many North Korean novels over the years. Here are some of my favorite scenes:

North Korean team training session during the
2010 World Cup in Johannesburg
Src: Frank Augstein/AP

Young Kim Il Sung teaches value of teamwork

The important novel 1000-ri Road of Learning (1971) by Kang Hyo Soon features a scene in which a very young Kim Il Sung observes a middle school soccer match in colonial Pyongyang alongside his schoolmates. Although he is canonically about 11 in this scene, he is referred to throughout as the Great Marshal (대원수님). 

I discussed the significance of this novel before a while back. As I explained then, it is not technically part of the "Imperishable History" Series, but the first edition was published one year before the first official Series novel, and it can be considered a precursor and model for what the Series would become. It is certainly an established classic of the leader representation genre, and I understand that North Korean schoolchildren usually read it in sixth grade, around the age that Kim was in the story.

   The spectators were watching intently, as the match was close from the start. Both teams, Kwangsŏng and Sŏngdŏk, attracted large audiences and were formidable opponents.

   15 minutes into the first half, Sŏngdŏk scored a goal with good form. The audience cheered and applauded. A middle-aged man, apparently a Sŏngdŏk parent, walked out in front of the students and did a little dance, swishing the fringes of his durumaki jacket.

   The game continued. The Kwangsŏng team, unwavering in their determination, encouraged one another and fought fiercely. Near the end of the first half, Kwangsŏng scored a goal. Thus, the first half ended 1-1.

   The second half began. Both sides were formidable. The teams pushed back and forth, sweating profusely, but neither could find a way to score. Then, with only five minutes remaining, the Kwangsŏng team finally got a shot in. Instantly, excitement boiled over in the stadium. In this way, the victory was won by Kwangsŏng School. 

   The Great Marshal thought about many things while watching the game.

   Clearly, in terms of individual skills, Sŏngdŏk was better than Kwangsŏng. However, the Sŏngdŏk athletes had grown arrogant after scoring that goal in the first half, and they then lost their lead to Kwangsŏng while busy showing off their individual skills. On the other hand, the Kwangsŏng team excelled in teamwork rather than individual skills.

   As a soccer team captain, the Great Marshal felt inspired to make a lesson of this. 

   He observed the Kwangsŏng School players in their black overalls and red shirts, and saw that Number 6 was the standout. Whenever the ball came to his side, he'd rush in to snatch it, and when it went to the other team, he'd dash over and kick it away. When the ball hovered around the center, he'd rush to steal it and kick it to a teammate. Number 6 also scored the final goal. When he scored, the crowd roared with joy, and the Kwangsŏng students banged drums, waved flags, and shouted cheers until their eardrums were about to burst. 

   "Dŏkbŏm, if you practice a little, you can probably kick like that Kwangsŏng number 6 player, right?" The Great Marshal asked.

   "No, I've still got a long way to go," said Dŏkbŏm, shaking his head.

   "Are those kids so special? If we work at it hard, we can do even better!" replied Yun Byŏng.

   "Yun Byŏng’s right. We’ve got to resolve ourselves to do better. Do that, and there's nothing we can't accomplish."

   These were the words of the Great Marshal.

   It wasn't just to watch a soccer match that the Great Marshal came into town with His comrades that day. His purpose was to stir their resolve and spirits by showing them the skills of great athletes.

A soccer match in colonial Pyongyang, July 1925
(src: 마니아타임즈)

The motif of teamwork triumphing over "arrogant" players "showing off their individual skills" sounded very familiar to me, and sure enough, a North Korean veteran athlete uses exactly the same language as this novel, almost word-for-word, in describing his team's triumph over Australia in the documentary "The Game of Their Lives." To be fair, it sounds like that is a pretty good summary of what actually went down. It's tough to say who inspired whom here - the Australia match happened in 1965, this novel was first published in 1971, and the documentary aired in 2002.

The little band of friends featured here does more than just kick some balls around - young Kim organizes them into an underground study group before leaving again for Manchuria. It was important for the Party to maintain the legend of an alternate domestic leftist group founded by Kim Il Sung and independent of Pak Hŏn Yŏng's Korean Communist Party. But KIS left Korea in 1925 at age 13 and did not return until after liberation. So, as unlikely as it sounds, this rambunctious gang of pre-teens goes on to form the core of a fabled Pyongyang-based faction of socialist agitators operating so deep underground that nobody heard about them until the 1960s. And what better way to have a young boy teach his mates the spirit of the collective than via sports analogies.

Even younger Kim Jong Il also teaches teamwork 

Fire Cloud (1991) by Pak Hyŏn is the second entry in the Imperishable Leadership series but the first in chronological order, set in 1950-53. And I can hear you asking: But that series focuses on the deeds of Kim Jong Il, so how can it possibly cover a period when he was only about 8-10 years old? Well, good question! Fire Cloud is probably the best book for examining how North Korea's novelists handle the tricky task of depicting one of their revered leaders in his Pokemon days. 

Kim Jong Il in 1950 
(Src: Sipa Press / Rex Features)

It seems like nobody definitively knows where the younger Kim spent the war years, but in this scene he is staying in a remote northern town along with his sister and a guardian. It is implied that this is somewhere well away from the fighting but still within North Korea's borders.

As always, the capitalized He/Him pronouns indicate the leader Kim (Kim Jong Il in this case), mirroring the honorific pronoun 그이 in the original. The author relies on these honorifics to an unusual degree in the text below to distinguish KJI from the other children. The author makes strenuous efforts to avoid having any of the children address KJI by a name, meaning ironically that they sometimes have to actually say "hey you" [야] to get his attention. It isn't even clear what name they might know him by, as it's implied that nobody in the village except a few trusted guardians know of his true identity. The omnipotent narrator however always refers to KJI as "young leader comrade" [어리신 지도자동지] with full honorific verbs.

This scene starts as KJI is called to join an impromptu soccer game by a hot-tempered young scamp named Ki Ryong, the local blacksmith's son. They're getting their butts kicked by another team led by a boy named Sang Su, and Ki Ryong is desperate for help:

   In the spacious front yard of Sang Su's house, beneath an old zelkova tree, the neighborhood children crowded together. They’d made goals out of some hats placed atop large rocks, and they were pushing and screaming, jostling each other, locked in a fierce battle.
   The two goalkeepers, who each had pieces of cardboard with the number 1 stuck on their backs, had already rolled on the ground several times and were looking just as ragged as Ki Ryong, but neither one took the time to dust off their clothes as they leaned forward, tensely watching the ball roll around.  

   Sang Su, wearing high-topped shoes with tightly tied laces, was locked in a fierce battle. Strong and a skilled runner, he led his team's attackers in a fierce charge, drenched in sweat. The other team's barefoot defense crumbled and fell back.

   Aghast, Ki Ryong ran over with Him in tow.

   The young leader, upon seeing the soccer field, felt relaxed, invigorated even. He swiftly removed His jacket, hung it on a zelkova tree branch, rolled up His pants, and ran into the middle of the field.

   "Hey! You came."

   "That’s enough of that, now let’s see what we can do."

   At the sight of Him, Ki Ryong's grim-looking teammates suddenly brightened, raising their fists and shouting at the opposing team.

   On the other side, Sang Su's gang grew uneasy.

   "Hey, if somebody new joins, somebody else has to leave. You can't just do that," Sang Su pouted.

   "You don't have to say anything, you can just leave now if you’re scared," Ki Ryong shot back with a soft fart. But he looked around his team, debating who to weed out. Deeming Nam Myŏng the weakest, he called him to leave. But neither Nam Myŏng nor any of the other kids were willing to quit. After a brief tussle, another boy joined Sang Su's side, evening out the teams.

   "All right, game on!" Play resumed. Ki Ryong moved swiftly to intercept the ball headed for Sang Su and passed it to the young leader, who drove it swiftly forward, but then made a sneaky side pass to Nam Myŏng, who was wide-open running parallel to Him. 

   "Why'd you pass it to Nam Myŏng? He'll lose it right away!" Ki Ryong shouted, startled to see Sang Su suddenly right behind and rushing to intercept. But Nam Myŏng denied him the steal, driving straight towards the goal.

   "Pass to me, to me!" Ki Ryong shouted again. So frantic was his urging that Nam Myŏng passed it over, and Ki Ryong suddenly had a clear shot to the goal. But Ki Ryong, seeing this perfect opportunity, got flustered and whiffed, stumbling and landing on top of the ball.

   The keeper on Sang Su's side quickly picked up the worn ball and tossed it far downfield to his teammates.

   "Some captain, couldn't even put that in!" Ki Ryong's teammates grumbled.

   Sang Su took the ball, and the ball was kicked back and forth, precariously close to the goal.

   From what He could see, it seemed that Ki Ryong's losses were not solely due to Sang Su's aggressive play. As team captain, Ki Ryong made no effort to coordinate but just drove the ball all by himself, hungry for a chance at the goal. But the ball kept getting stolen away from him, causing constant chaos.

   "Hey, stop just driving forward. Pass it, pass it. Pass to Nam Myŏng!" [KJI] shouted eagerly, but to no avail. Soon they were down another goal.

Boys playing soccer in Pyongyang, 2011
(src: Getty Images/alexkuehni)

   The whistle shrilled. "6-0!" Chang Gil proclaimed. [...] 

   With a thorny temper like a spiny crab, Chang Gil was the natural referee of this soccer field. He wore a dignified expression, fully exercising his authority and observing proper etiquette. He would place the ball on the imaginary center line, ensuring that the players were in their proper positions, and only then would he blow his whistle to resume play.

   "The ball is for everyone to kick, but you keep trying to hog it all yourself, and then you keep losing it," He scolded Ki Ryong as they followed Chang Gil, once more carrying the ball to the center line.

   "You can’t hold off all these kids on your own. You need to keep passing. If you keep it going back and forth, Sang Su's guys will get worn out chasing it."

   Feeling guilty but unable to think of an excuse, Ki Ryong just blinked and mumbled incomprehensibly.

   [KJI] devised a strategy: He, Nam Myŏng, and Ki Ryong would form a triangle, passing among each other as they advanced. The other four would defend in the middle, providing support.

   He took the ball at the center line, calmly drove it forward a few steps, and then passed to Nam Myŏng, who waited for Sang Su's teammate to converge on him and then quickly sent it to Ki Ryong. This time, Ki Ryong heeded His advice. Instead of going solo, he drew the opposing players toward him like Nam Myŏng had done. He ran with it almost to the goal, then kicked it back to Him. At a run, He intercepted the ball as it flew towards Him and kicked with all His might. The ball shot between the gatekeeper's legs like a bullet.

   "Goal."

   Ki Ryong, who had been fuming from so many losses, now skipped and cheered.

   After that first goal, the whole team’s spirits lifted, and they continued their attack with renewed vigor. Soon after, Nam Myŏng sent the ball soaring impressively again.

   "Hey, you're quite a good kicker," Ki Ryong poked Nam Myŏng in the side.

   Because Nam Myŏng was so quiet and reserved, Ki Ryong had thought he’d lack the power for soccer, and he'd given him a hard time for every bad kick. But now, to his surprise, he saw that Nam Myŏng was quite agile and had decent ball handling skills.

   Nam Myŏng simply wiped the sweat from his face and smiled.

   Once they started to get pushed back, Sang Su's forces had a hard time fending off attacks from their better-coordinated rival. After half an hour, the score was tied at 11-11. As the odds evened out, the gameplay became more intense, with players from both teams colliding and falling more frequently.

   Sang Su gathered his players to whisper about some tactic, and whatever it was, the team's moves changed. They’d shake off every attacker and surround the ball so that it was impossible to approach, then drive forward with a collective shout.

   Caught off guard by this bizarre attack, Ki Ryong scrambled to counter it. He tried grabbing Sang Su's arms with both hands, and when that didn't work, he desperately tripped him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Several other boys fell on top of them in a heap, laughing. Just then Chang Gil came running up, eyes wide, whistle blaring.

   "What are you doing? That's a foul, a foul!" Chang Gil huffed and began rummaging through his pockets for something. When he couldn't find what he wanted, he pulled out the first thing at hand, a pocketknife, and solemnly held it up in front of Ki Ryong's nose.

   "What’s this?" Ki Ryong looked bewildered.

   "Don’t you know what this is? It's a referee's sign. You've got a warning."

   "Warning? What does that even mean?"

   "You don't know? Two warnings and you're off the field."

   "Is there even such a thing?"

   "Oh, come on. You don't even know the rules of soccer." Chang Gil gaped. "You tripped him on purpose. If this were a proper stadium game, you'd’ve been kicked out long ago."

   "Pfft, what for?"

   "What? Are you talking back to the referee? I'll send you off right now. Players must obey the referee no matter what. Don't you even know that?"

   Chang Gil's fierce scowl left Ki Ryong speechless, overwhelmed by his "sophisticated" soccer knowledge. As a referee, Chang Gil was indeed formidable. 

The gameplay continues until the boys' mothers begin calling them all in for supper. Sang Su has to almost be dragged off the field by his mother before he will accept defeat. Ki Ryong basks in the glow of victory until his own mother comes to fetch him. At last Kim Jong Il is left to walk home alone. None of the boys seem to realize that he has nobody to come for him – his mother is dead, and his father is far away at Central Command, desperately fighting for their country's future. The chapter ends poetically with young KJI sadly watching some geese fly southward.

The message here, once again, is practice teamwork, do not arrogantly try to seize all the glory for yourself, trust your teammates, learn their strengths, and also maybe try not to lose your temper on the field. Of course it goes without saying that it's the young leader who kicks in the only attributed goal. 

I liked the way he scored that goal between the legs of the goalkeeper, because that was my signature move in high school. I played forward, just like the young comrade leader, but I was an exceptionally clumsy child and could never master any kind of fancy footwork. So whenever I came up against a defender, I'd make as if planning some clever move but then just kick the ball straight ahead. It went right between the defender's legs every time, and then I'd just run past them. Of course I couldn't try that too many times in one game or they would catch on, but our team was so rarely on the offensive that it always worked out. Really demoralized the opponents too. I still feel kind of bad about it.

Soccer Fans on the High Seas

In between narrating the various Cold War crises of the late 1960s and engaging scenes involving major communist figures, Fate (2012) by Chŏng Ki Jong takes a break to cover North Korea's strong showing in the 1966 World Cup. First, we see Kim Il Sung putting off an important meeting with the new Hungarian ambassador to personally greet the players, whom he already seems well familiar with:

North Korea's 1966 World Cup team (Src: AP)

   The Great Leader, smiling brightly, looked around at each and every player sitting in the front row. “All our familiar comrades are here, eh? Pak Du Ik, Pak Sŭng Jin, Han Bong Jin, Ha Jŏng Won, and then Rim Sŏng Hui… and the comrade next to Rim Joong Sŏn is Ri Chan Myŏng, the keeper for our Korea! And this comrade is Ri Dong Won? No, no, it’s Yang Sŏng Guk. Ah, that’s Ri Dong Won over there, next to Comrade Kim Sŏng Il, right? So, Coach Yŏn Sŭng Chŏl, tell me. Have I correctly recognized all of our wonderful players?”

   Coach Yŏn Sŭng Chŏl sprung from his seat. “Yes, that’s all correct!” Yŏn shouted hoarsely, unable to control his overwhelming emotion. “Thank you, Great Leader!”

   Then, as if by plan, all the players whose names had been called stood up from their seats and shouted in unison: “Thank you, Great Leader!”

   Shouts loaded with emotion… The leader raised His hand again and told them all to sit down.

   “What? The entire nation knows your names, not just me. Come, sit. Sit down, I said. Actually, I should be the one thanking you, comrades. You have done a great thing. How incredible was that competition? Only one team can advance to the main tournament from all of Asia, Africa, and Oceania. I can't tell you how happy the entire nation is right now after hearing the news that our North Korean team will be going to the 8th World Cup Championship.”

   He recalled what happened in the Asian preliminaries of this 8th World Cup, which were held in the Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh in November 1965. “When you played against the Australian team, which boasted of being the strongest in Asia, we were all on edge from the start waiting for news. Actually, even though Australia is in the Eastern Hemisphere, almost all of them are Anglo-Saxon descendants, are they not. So it would not be an exaggeration to say that we were playing against the English team. Sports Guidance Committee Chairman, am I right?”

   The chairman of the Sports Guidance Committee straightened his back and answered, “Yes, Great Leader. That’s right. Also, I hear they went somewhere in England where the climate is similar to Cambodia’s and trained hard for two months before the match.”

   “Hmm… And yet, we beat the Australian team 6-1 in the first match. I hear that the Cambodians cheered enthusiastically when we won?”

   “Yes, that's right,” the chairman of the Sports Guidance Committee replied. "In fact, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia had not forgotten that Australia fought in the Korean War as one of the 15 allied countries [추종국가]. So, considering that the two countries were enemies, he divided the Cambodian spectators into two cheering groups, wanting to ensure fairness. But when our team won, all the fans stood up and cheered.”

   He laughed aloud. “How refreshing. In the war, we defeated them with guns, but today, we’re doing it with a soccer ball.”

All of the players' names seem faithfully reproduced, except for no. 16 Ri Dong Won [리동원] whose real name seems to be 리동운, although that may be Wikipedia's mistake. Also, the team's head coach was Myŏng Nye Hyŏn [명례현], but Yŏn Sŭng Chŏl may have been some other administrator. I translated 책임지도원 as "coach" based on the context, but that could be the word for the party secretary in charge of the team.

It's true that FIFA rules that year only allowed a single team to advance to the main tournament from all of Asia, Africa, and Oceania for some BS reason. In protest of this rule, all of Africa and most of Asia boycotted, with the result being that Australia and North Korea were the only ones left to compete. Cambodia was chosen as neutral ground for the match, and the Cambodian fans were indeed split into two groups for fairness. The bit about Australians traveling to England for training is backwards though - in fact, that team was more English than Australian, and they chose a training ground near Cairns for its similarity to Cambodia's climate.

Later, the winning match against Italy is narrated in an interesting way from the POV of a leading character, Pak Yu Jin, who happens to be serving as political officer aboard a North Korean fishing trawler at the time. As the match plays over the shipboard radio, Pak and the crew listen with bated breath:

   “Our team's number 15, Yang Sŏng Guk, driving the ball, crosses the midline. Blocked by Italian No. 6, crosses left to Han Bong Jin, Han Bong Jin shoots with his left foot! Ah, crosses to number 8 Pak Sŭng Jin... Pak Sŭng Jin struggles as Italy's No. 3 player rushes at him... Brings the ball forward, and now number 9 takes it and shoots! This time the Italian keeper kicks the ball far over the halfway line on our side. Our No. 6 Rim Sŏng Hui runs in and intercepts... Italy's captain No. 12 moves in from the middle right to attack...” 

   His chest got so tight that it felt hard to even breathe. Beside Yu Jin, the captain kept grabbing his arm, crushing it. Behind him, [a sailor] pounded his back with hard fists, as if trying to crush him.  

   “Italy’s no. 9 and 10 are making short passes approaching our goal. Stealing past our numbers 5 and 3... Oh, that was too close. But here’s our final defender, number 2!... yes, good, finally stopped it... But the ball’s outside the line. Italy’s a strong team, and their numbers 9 and 10, who launched that joint strike, are the world-renowned Rivera and Mazzulta. Italy's number 6 throws the ball, number 9 connects, passing it back to number 10, and now they’re making short passes back and forth... Now here's number 10 coming in from deep to the right. Number 10 Mazzulta shoots! Ah, our Ri Chan Myŏng jumps up to meet it, but… the ball crossed over.”  [Probably: No. 14 Sandro Mazzola and No. 19 Gianni Rivera, both forwards]

   They'd lost all track of the flow of time. It was a game in which fate was staked, a game in which the honor, pride, and dignity of them all was staked.

   “Big brother,” [a sailor] said, sobbing. “I feel like I am going to die of suffocation and shaking. Big brother, what am I going to do?”

    “Shut up!” shouted Captain Tae Gyu, red-eyed.

    “Nearing the 34 minute mark, and so far, both teams have been fighting fiercely without a goal. It’s still a speed race for our team... Our number 11 Han Bong Jin passes to number 5 Lim Joong Sŏn, Rim Joong Sŏn to Pak Du Ik, Pak Du Ik to Pak Sŭng Jin... Pak Sŭng Jin breaks through the Italians’ defensive line. Italy's captain comes running in... Ah, he slides in to steal it... No, it's kicked away. Pak Sŭng Jin goes flying over him... But what’s this whistle? Is it a foul?!... Yes – 

Italy’s captain Bulgarelli gets a yellow card for deliberately kicking a leg. But… Now he's down and can't get up. While pretending slip during the steal, he kicked our player's leg, and Pak Sŭng Jin swiftly jumped over his body, but it seems he got hurt somewhere? The match has been suspended. Oh, finally, Italy's Captain Bulgarelli is being carried out on a stretcher."

Captain Bulgarelli injured on the field

   Pak Yu Jin jumped up and shook his fist and shouted, “Good job!― Pak Sŭng Jin!―” Never before had he shouted so loudly with such mad agitation. This wasn't just soccer, it was a war of fighting spirit, perseverance, and mental strength. 

   Then it happened. The dramatic words that Pak Yu Jin, the fishermen of trawler boat No. 56, and all people of our country would never forget for the rest of their lives finally passed over the airwaves.

   “Now at almost 41 minutes into game time, our team is on the attack again. Only speed, only attack... Ah, here’s a good chance... Number 7 Pak Du Ik gets the ball from the midfielder, rushes to the left flank, steals past Italy's number 3... Pak Du Ik has his arm grabbed by Italy's No. 3, but rushes through the gap like lightning and kicks with his right foot!

   “Shoo-oot!” The choked voice of the announcer passed through his heart like an electric current... By this point, Announcer Ri Sang Byŏk's tumultuous words mingled with the violent beating of his own heart.

   “Goooaaal! It’s in. Our Pak Du Ik finally made it to the Italian goal! Korea kicked a goal past the world-leading Italian team!”

   Everyone got up from their seats. Who was the first to cry out with a choked voice? “Goal! Goal!”

I can't find the whole game online, but from the clips I've seen, this seems to more or less follow the action of the real game. The times in particular are accurate. I know that the Italian captain was carried out with an injury, and that was a big moment in the game. Here's some actual footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqd20eUv9BI

After the goal is scored, the narration skips pretty quickly to the end of the game, when the crew all jump up and hug each other tearfully. 

Soon after, the sailors are startled to see a Soviet ship speeding in their direction. Luckily, Pak Yu Jin studied abroad and speaks fluent Russian:

    At that moment, the sound of a whistle echoed from a Soviet maritime patrol ship cutting through the waves. As he struggled to hear, a high shriek sounded from the loudspeaker of the approaching patrol boat.

   "Корейская команда!― Силинейшая! Поздравляем Корейских футболистов с победой над  итальянцами!"

   Yu Jin waved to them. “Спасибо."

   "What did they say?" shouted the captain.

   "They said Korea is very strong," Yu Jin shouted back. "They congratulate the Korean team on beating the Italians!"

The captain instructs a sailor to invite the Russians aboard. With Yu Jin acting as sole interpreter, the two groups enjoy a bi-national celebration on the high seas. 

The Russian language above was rendered in hangul in the novel, and has been painstakingly transposed here into (probably flawed) cyrillic for legibility. Because that's the kind of full-service translation you can expect here at dprklit.

Here are some good articles about North Korea in the 1966 World Cup: 

https://www.history.co.uk/article/north-korea-the-secret-heroes-of-the-1966-world-cup

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1998811-italy-world-cup-rewind-humiliation-at-the-hands-of-korea-1966

I also recommend checking out the aforementioned documentary The Game of Their Lives which includes interviews with the seven team members still surviving in 2002.