SEOUL — If the disturbance had happened anywhere else, it might have been dismissed as just another instance of soccer hooliganism. But the rowdiness that followed North Korea's loss to Iran on Wednesday in a World Cup qualifying match in Pyongyang has raised questions about public order in what is reputed to be the world's most controlled city.
In the televised match in the North Korean capital at Kim Il Sung Stadium, named for the country's late founder, fans threw rocks, seats and bottles at a Syrian referee who had made an unpopular call. Thousands of people surrounded the stadium afterward, preventing the Iranian players from getting on their bus. It reportedly took two hours for North Korean soldiers and police to disperse the crowd so the Iranians could leave.
"If I were Kim Jong Il, I would be quite terrified," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea scholar at Kookmin University in Seoul, referring to the North's leader. "If people can riot about football, then they can as well about the food distribution or somebody's arrest. Something like this would have been unthinkable in Pyongyang 10 years ago."
Paik Hak Soon, a South Korean academic who specializes in the North's political system, said: "It is surprising for the people to act that way, and you can see when there is agitation or frustration, mobs can break out."
Whether or not the riot was a sign of instability, it deeply embarrassed North Korea as it reemerges on the international soccer scene after a long seclusion. The North's team hasn't played in the final stages of a World Cup tournament since 1966, when it defeated Italy in a major upset. The squad sat out the qualifying matches for the 1998 and 2002 tournaments.
In order to participate in this year's qualifying matches, the reclusive North Koreans were required under the rules of soccer's governing body to host some matches at home -- a rarity in a country that is loath to admit foreigners -- and to permit televised broadcasts of the game and advertising at the venue. As a result, viewers were presented with the unusual sight of Kim Il Sung Stadium decked out with pitches for Coca-Cola and Samsung Electronics, among other sponsors.
"They had no choice. This is the first time that North Korea is hosting a fully commercialized match and these are the basic requirements," said Samuel Ka, an official with the Korea Football Assn. in Seoul. The North Koreans "want to improve their football standards, so they need to participate in more international matches."
