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Soccer News: FIFA investigate Korea claims

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World Cup 2010

FIFA investigate Korea claims

2010-08-16 06:20

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has demanded answers from North Korea after reports claimed that its World Cup squad was publicly humiliated and coach Kim Jong-Hun had been sentenced to hard labour.

World football's governing body this week opened an investigation and sent a letter to the North Korean football authorities.

"We sent a letter to the football federation to tell us about their election of a new president and to find out if the allegations made by the media that the coach and some players were condemned and punished are true," said Blatter.

"We are doing this as a first step and we will see how they answer.

"But it is not easy," added the Swiss, who is in Singapore for the Youth Olympic Games.

"We once had a case in another country where it was said players were also condemned and under physical pressure and we sent someone and it turned out not to be true.

"So let's see what we hear before we make an official statement."

North Korea bowed out of its first World Cup since 1966 after an impressive performance during a 2-1 defeat to Brazil in South Africa before being routed 7-0 by Portugal and 3-0 by Ivory Coast.

The showing of live games in the communist state had been banned to avoid national embarrassment, but after the Brazil game, state television made the Portugal match its first live sports broadcast ever.

They could not have picked a worse game, with the hail of goals from the European side leaving the commentator speechless.

According to Radio Free Asia, on their return team members were made to stand on a stage at the People's Palace of Culture in the capital Pyongyang and were subjected to "ideological criticism" for six hours.

Citing sources in the country, it said around 400 officials including Sports Minister Pak Myong-chol, other athletes and sport students were part of the audience.

The players were apparently forced to criticise coach Kim, who was punished for "betraying" Kim Jong-Un -- one of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il's sons and heir apparent.

He was reportedly expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea and sentenced to hard labour on a building site.

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2010 SOCCER LOGS

Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H

SA PSL

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Sundowns	4	6	12
2. Ajax	3	5	9
3. Arrows	4	5	9
4. Chiefs	3	3	7
5. Santos	4	1	7
6. Bloem Celtic	4	1	6
7. Pirates	3	1	5
8. AmaZulu	4	-1	5
9. Wits	4	0	4
10. Vasco Da Gama	4	-1	4
11. Platinum Stars	4	-3	4
12. Free State Stars	4	-2	3
13. SuperSport	3	-3	3
14. Swallows	3	-3	1
15. Maritzburg	4	-6	1
16. B Aces	3	-3	0

English Premiership

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Chelsea	7	21	18
2. Man City	7	6	14
3. Man Utd	7	7	13
4. Arsenal	7	7	11
5. Tottenham	7	2	11
6. West Brom	7	-3	11
7. Stoke	7	-1	10
8. Aston Villa	7	-3	10
9. Blackpool	7	-4	10
10. Fulham	7	1	9
11. Sunderland	7	0	8
12. Bolton	7	-1	8
13. Blackburn	7	-1	8
14. Wigan	7	-9	8
15. Newcastle	7	0	7
16. Birmingham	7	-3	7
17. Everton	7	-1	6
18. Liverpool	7	-4	6
19. Wolverhampton	7	-5	5
20. West Ham	7	-9	5

English Premiership Scorers

Player	Team	G
1. Didier Drogba	Chelsea	6
2. Dimitar Berbatov	Man Utd	6
3. Florent Malouda	Chelsea	6
4. Carlos Tevez	Man City	5
5. Darren Bent	Sunderland	5
6. Andrew Carroll	Newcastle	4

Spanish La Liga Log

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Valencia	6	7	16
2. Villarreal	6	8	15
3. Real Madrid	6	10	14
4. Barcelona	6	5	13
5. Sevilla	6	4	11
6. Getafe	6	3	10
7. Atletico Madrid	6	3	10
8. Espanyol	6	-4	9
9. Mallorca	6	-1	8
10. Malaga	6	0	7
11. Athletic Bilbao	6	0	7
12. Hercules	6	-1	7
13. Real Sociedad	6	-3	7
14. Almeria	6	0	6
15. Osasuna	6	-2	5
16. Sporting Gijon	6	-5	5
17. Levante	6	-6	5
18. Racing Santander	6	-5	4
19. Real Zaragoza	6	-5	3
20. Deportivo La Coruna	6	-8	3

Italian Serie A

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Lazio	6	3	13
2. Inter Milan	6	5	11
3. Napoli	6	4	11
4. AC Milan	6	4	11
5. Chievo	6	3	10
6. Brescia	6	-1	9
7. Juventus	6	3	8
8. Palermo	6	1	8
9. Catania	6	1	8
10. Genoa	6	-1	8
11. Bari	6	-3	8
12. Lecce	6	-3	8
13. Cagliari	6	2	7
14. Sampdoria	6	1	7
15. Bologna	6	-1	7
16. Cesena	6	-3	7
17. Fiorentina	6	-1	5
18. Parma	6	-2	5
19. Roma	6	-6	5
20. Udinese	6	-6	4

German Bundesliga

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Mainz	7	11	21
2. Borussia Dortmund	7	13	18
3. Hannover	96	2	3
4. Bayer Leverkusen	7	3	12
5. SC Freiburg	7	0	12
6. TSG Hoffenheim	7	3	11
7. Hamburg	7	1	11
8. Wolfsburg	7	1	10
9. St Pauli	7	0	10
10. Eintracht Frankfurt	7	2	9
11. Nurnberg	7	-1	9
12. Bayern Munich	7	-3	8
13. Werder Bremen	7	-5	8
14. FC Kaiserslautern	7	-4	7
15. Borussia M''gladbach	7	-9	6
16. Cologne	7	-6	5
17. Schalke	04	5	-6
18. VfB Stuttgart	7	-3	3

French Ligue 1

Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1. Rennes	8	8	18
2. St Etienne	8	6	17
3. Lille	8	6	14
4. Toulouse	8	3	14
5. Brest	8	3	14
6. Sochaux	8	7	13
7. PSG	8	5	12
8. Marseille	8	4	12
9. Caen	8	0	12
10. Bordeaux	8	1	11
11. Montpellier	8	-2	11
12. Valenciennes	8	0	10
13. Nice	8	-3	10
14. Auxerre	8	1	8
15. Monaco	8	0	8
16. Lorient	8	-2	8
17. Lyon	8	-4	8
18. AS Nancy	8	-6	8
19. Lens	8	-10	5
20. Arles	8	-17	0