- New push for EU-South America trade deal despite French fury
- France, Italy and Portugal target Nations League quarters
- Trump presidency raises fresh conflict of interest concerns
- Somaliland votes amid Horn of Africa tensions
- Chile's 'transplant' footballers champion organ donation
- Trump names Musk to 'efficiency' post as team takes shape
- UN nuclear chief heads to Iran for crucial talks
- Indonesia go Dutch in pursuit of World Cup dreams
- Israel gets US pass on Gaza aid but agencies say it's not enough
- US airman who leaked classified documents jailed for 15 years
- UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel
- US bans flights to Haiti after three jetliners hit by gunfire
- Lincicome ends 20-year LPGA career at hometown event
- Canadian women's coach, two aides out after drone scandal
- Sinner turns aside Fritz to close in on ATP Finals last four
- UN condemns 'acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes' in Gaza
- US bans flights to Haiti as gang violence rages
- Aga Khan emerald fetches record $9 mn in Geneva auction
- Venezuela crackdown helped avert 'civil war': attorney general
- Climate cash should also go to nuclear, says UN atomic chief
- Free Facebook in EU with less targeted ads
- Dupont set to be fit for New Zealand despite illness
- New balls, please, plead top men's tennis players
- Ban rules Radradra out of Fiji's final November internationals
- US contractor ordered to pay $42 mn to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib
- Lame-duck US climate team vows to be 'effective' at COP29
- Painter Frank Auerbach, contemporary of Freud and Bacon, dies at 93
- UN carbon market inches closer after COP29 agreement
- US finalizes waste methane fine on drillers, but future uncertain
- Fifteen inmates killed in new Ecuador jail massacre
- Trump tariff worries trip up stocks rally, dollar climbs
- Israel opens Gaza humanitarian crossing but aid groups say not enough
- 35 killed, dozens wounded in south China car ramming
- 'Carbon-neutral' countries demand credit at COP29
- FA investigates Premier League referee Coote over video rant
- Boeing expects post-strike output recovery to take several weeks
- Trump shapes cabinet ahead of White House return
- Blinken in emergency Brussels trip on Ukraine after Trump win
- All Blacks scrum-halves 'inspired' to play 'master' Dupont
- Medvedev sees off De Minaur to boost ATP Finals bid
- Lindt disputes US lawsuit claims, stands by 'excellence' labelling
- UK to beef up its emissions cuts as it bids to be 'climate leader'
- Nations to submit boosted climate plans: what's at stake?
- French footballer Ben Yedder gets suspended jail term for sexual assault
- Nuclear watchdog chief says room to manoeuvre on Iran 'shrinking'
- Russia jails doctor over alleged Ukraine comments during consultation
- EU vessels to cease fishing in Senegal after accord expires
- Bayer shares hit 20-yr low as problems pile up
- Russian MPs pass law banning 'propaganda' of childless lifestyles
- NATO 'must do more than just keep Ukraine in fight', says Rutte
RBGPF | 0.05% | 60.22 | $ | |
BCC | -1.42% | 141.13 | $ | |
NGG | -1.97% | 62.9 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.85% | 24.75 | $ | |
JRI | -2.27% | 13.22 | $ | |
RELX | -2.6% | 46.59 | $ | |
RIO | -2.29% | 61.2 | $ | |
SCS | 0.15% | 13.67 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.73% | 24.54 | $ | |
BCE | -0.58% | 27.69 | $ | |
GSK | -2.34% | 35.52 | $ | |
RYCEF | -2.37% | 7.16 | $ | |
BTI | 0.26% | 35.24 | $ | |
AZN | 0.61% | 65.19 | $ | |
VOD | -10.04% | 8.47 | $ | |
BP | -2.7% | 28.16 | $ |
N. Korea's World Cup-winning footballers get heroes' welcome home
North Korea's Under-17 Women's World Cup-winning footballers received a heroes' welcome back in the capital Pyongyang, AFP footage showed on Sunday, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success.
They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic a week ago.
Remarkably it was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea -- largely closed off to the outside world -- they also lifted the Women's World Cup at under-20 level in September.
Officials and players' families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the plane approached the arrivals gate.
Beaming players and their families celebrated together, with one mother, dressed in the traditional hanbok Korean dress, telling her footballing daughter: "You worked so hard."
Jon Chong Il, who won the Golden Ball for best player at the U17 World Cup, told AFP: "It was the desire and honour of our team to give the respected fatherly Marshal Kim Jong Un the report of pleasure and victory.
"I will train harder and harder in the future so that I will demonstrate the honour of North Korea throughout the world," added Jon, who scored the vital 66th-minute equaliser against Spain that took the game to penalties.
Jon's mother, Kim Yong Sil, told reporters: "I will continue to fulfil my responsibility as a mother to make my daughter a world-class football player and wave the national flag in the sky in triumph."
Giving thanks to the ruling Kim family and using sports achievements as a means to raise the national profile is a tradition for North Korean athletes and their families after notable victories.
The victorious squad took to an open truck decorated with flowers and painted with the North Korean flag to drive through the city as they waved to people on the streets.
Some people approached the vehicle to shake hands, with some men in military uniform saluting as the players passed.
While the secretive country's men's football team are currently ranked down at 111th in the world, their female counterparts have won two youth World Cups in two months.
State media proclaimed that the country's teenage players were "the attention of football experts, fans and spectators across the world" after the U17 triumph last Sunday.
North Korea have qualified for the Women's World Cup four times, reaching the quarter-finals in 2007. They are ranked ninth in the world.
G.Teles--PC