A poisonous affair?

April 6th, 2009 | by: Laura-Claire | Comments(1)

Just a quick note, as there will be more from the Seoul area in the upcoming days.

For now, though, looks like the football tension between the North and South hasn’t eased since last week’s game, in which the Red Devils from the South beat their rivals 1-0 in the match’s final minutes.

North Korea’s head football coach, Kim Jong Hun, made the claim that South Korea poisoned his players’ food before the match.

North Korea’s football association issued the following statement about the game, according to bbcnews.com.

“It was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as [the players] could not get up all of a sudden just before the match.”

FIFA rejected Kim’s plea to delay the game and move it to a neutral location after three of his athletes acquired food poisoning, according to the BBC.

The game took place in Seoul, just about 35 miles from the border with North Korea. The teams’ previous matchup in September 2008 occurred in Shanghai after FIFA suggested it be moved from Pyongyang, North Korea to China after the North refused to allow South Korea to sing its national anthem and wave its flag.

South Korea, meanwhile, has rejected the claim.