In July 2014, the news agencies around the world went around the frames, where the North Korean TV presenter reported the successes of the DPRK national team at the Brazil’s mundial. We checked whether it really was.

To be precise, there were two videos. On the first The host of the state television channel talked about the victories of the North Koreans in its group over the national teams of Japan, the USA and China, which provided the team access to the playoffs. Also, the reports of greetings by the Brazilian fans of the great leader Kim Jong -un, who was supposedly shown on the big screen on the beach of Kopakaban, got into the report. On the second VideoThe same girl enthusiastically reported that the DPRK team won the final of the tournament over the owners-brousers, knocking out the teams of Portugal (mirror revenge for 0: 7 four years ago), Germany and, fundamentally, South Korea before.

The national team of the DPRK in football cannot boast of a rich history. Until 2014, she only got into the final part of the World Cup twice, and did not get to Brazil at all. However, given the image that has developed in the world about North Korean propaganda, it was not difficult to believe in a similar domestic fake. And this was done as authoritative foreign media (CBS, Bleacher Report, Mirror), and Russian ("Kommersant", NTV, "RIA Novosti" Russia Today, And "Echo of Moscow"). Journalists of the whole world used this news as the next proof of the transformation of the Asian nuclear power into a kind of ocean from the novel “1984”.

One of the first catch was noted by readers of the Reddit resource. A user from South Korea I turned it Attention to the fact that the movements of the leading lips do not correspond to the spoken words, and the voice behind the scenes does not very successfully imitate the North Korean accent. Soon it was possible to find others Records With this TV presenter - the girl has a completely different voice on them.

In addition, it turned out that the DPRK did not particularly hide real news from Brazil. In order to watch the championship matches, it was not necessary to subscribe to cable television or even have a TV - games showed right on the streets. Including a match with the participation of the national ideological enemy - South Korea. Of course, the North Koreans, of course, knew about the absence of their players at the Mundial.

2014. Residents of Pyongyan watch the match of the national teams of South Korea and Russia

As for the two sensational videos, they appeared on the YouTube channel Korea News Backup July 12 and 16, 2014, respectively. The authors of successful parodies, apparently, were from South Korea. This is noticeable, for example, by the word Hwaiting! - The wishes of good luck used purely southern neighbors And what happened from English Fighting.

Note that both previous participation of the DPRK team in the final stage of the world championships became the reason for sensational headlines. In 1966, in England, the team knocked out of the struggle of two -time world champions Italians, and in the quarter -finals against the Portuguese led 3-0, but managed to lose. A little later, world newspapers wrote that the entire composition of the national team “for violation of the regime” went to the concentration camp (even executions were mentioned), and the national hero Pak Du Iku, who put the victorious ball into the gates of Italy, was a little more: he was sent to work with a lumberjack. This version is partially confirmed in the book Kan Chol Kvan and Pierre Rigulo “Aquariums of Pyongyan", Published in 2000 and telling about the life of prisoners of the North Korean" Gulag ". However, the book is based on memories, and there are not very many other facts in favor of the legend. Soon after the publication of the book, the British film director Daniel Gordon visited the DPRK and met with the key figures of the 1966 team: the head coach, goalkeeper, captain (allegedly met by the author of the book in concentration camp) and the aforementioned Pak Du Ikom. The result of the visit was Gordon's documentary "The game of life"in which football players deny Rumors of punishment say that in their homeland they were met as heroes. Nevertheless, given all the circumstances of the organization of foreigners in the DPRK, we have no complete confidence in the futility of this harsh legend.

Almost half a century passed, and in 2010 the DPRK team finally made it again on the uniform. And in the first match she gave battle to the Brazilians, losing only 1: 2. A few days later on YouTube appeared "Reporting of North Korean television" About the victory over the South Americans with a score of 1: 0 and the proclamation of the DPRK national football champions. In fact, although the state channel showed the match only in the record (ordinary practice for the country), but in full, and such a defeat in the country was perceived with enthusiasm. Moreover, after an impressive start, the functionaries dared and decided to first convey on the air the next match - against the Portuguese. The risky step turned into a disaster - the DPRK team was Debred With a score of 0: 7 in front of the whole nation. After that they appeared messages The fact that the head coach of the Kim John Hong team was sent to a concentration camp, and all the players were reprimanded. FIFA was forced to conduct her own investigation of the incident, which They turned off After the assurances of the North Korean side that no measures were applied to the participants of the 2010 World Cup.

Thus, the Fakes of the North Korean Television about the results of the local team at the world championships in South Africa and Brazil are really nothing more than fakes, but they were created by foreigners in order to spraise this very television or discredit it.