Sports Events in North Korea

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This large stadium overlooks the Arch of Triumph and was built on the site of a Japanese baseball field during their occupation of Korea. It was then rebuilt in 1969 when it was renamed the Moranbong Stadium, but its name was changed, in 1982, to its current name in honour of Kim Il Sung. The stadium can accommodate up to 100,000 people and is mainly used for football matches, one of which we went to as part of our tour. We watched the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying match between the DPRK and Turkmenistan - two of the most repressive nations on earth. The crowd were pretty quiet throughout the match instead of us cheering on the DPRK (I bought a DPRK flag and was the only person with one out of a crowd of about 50,000!) DPRK won the game 1-0 so the crowd went home slightly happier than before the match. I happened to find a few of the Turkmenistan player outside the front of the stadium beside their bus and they allowed me to take a group photo of them!