S
Sakon Shima
Guest
$34
That's how much North Korean Ji Yun Nam, who scored against Brazil, earns in a year
IT is only enough to buy you a meal at a classy restaurant.
Or 10 packets of chicken rice from a foodcourt.
Or half of this World Cup telecast if you signed up in Singapore last month.
And S$34 (3,480 North Korean won) is also how much Ji Yun Nam, the North Korean fullback who scored against Brazil, earns in a year.
Ji plays for the North Korean army team known as April 25, named after the date of the armed forces' founding.
The veteran takes home 290 North Korean won (S$2.85) a month, inclusive of allowances, reported news portals in China.
Ji is already considered one of the best-paid players in the communist state.
Younger footballers earn 40 North Korean won less.
The average worker earns ever lesser, taking home between 100 and 200 North Korean won a month.
Still, Ji's salary would seem like a drop in the ocean, compared to the astronomical sums earned by the Brazilian super stars.
Kaka, for instance, would take just a minute to earn what Ji earns in a year. Kaka earns 9 million euros (S$15.5 million), about 450,000 times more than what Ji does. That works out to be S$42,465 a day or S$30 a minute.
The impoverished state of the North Korean team once moved Yan Shiduo, former CEO of the China Football Association, to tears, reported Oriental Morning Post.
In 1999, North Korea played in an invitational quadrangular in Shanghai as they took their first steps to return to the international football arena.
Said Yan: "I think they didn't set aside a budget for players' lunch, which isn't provided by the hotel, so they asked the hotel for some sweets, and that was their lunch.
"After the game, they also drank leftover mineral water from the bottles that were thrown away by our (China national) players."
Yet, they managed to score two goals against the China national team.
This time around, the North Koreans have brought along a chef to South Africa.
The spartan conditions have never been an excuse for the North Koreans, whose unadulterated love for the game moved striker Jong Tae Se to play for them instead of Japan and South Korea.
He was eligible to play for all three countries.
Jong's biographer, Shin Mu Koeng, said Jong, who is attracting interest from German club VFL Bochum, had many doubts at first. But when he trained with the North Koreans, he saw their pureness.
Said Shin: "They never complained about the inadequacies, and they did their absolute best. They were playing for their team and for victory, nothing else."
After restricting Brazil to a 2-1 win, thrilled North Koreans are backing their national team to shock the footballing world with wins in their remaining group games against Portugal and Ivory Coast, reported AFP.
Fans in Pyongyang hope their team "will score good results in the tournament" said the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Feeling sorry about their team's loss in the match, viewers have become convinced that it would win the remaining matches," it said.
Optimistic
Pak Tu Ik, 74, who was pivotal in North Korea's win over Italy in the 1966 Finals, told KCNA he was happy to see North Korea "making a good job in the match with a powerhouse".
"I hope that our team will produce a new myth of Songun (army-first) Korea in the tournament to live up to the expectation of the Korean people," he said.
Kim Yong Gyu, 45, a researcher at the Academy of Sports Science, said the strong mental power displayed by North Korean players "betokens good results" in other matches, according to KCNA.
North Korea will meet Portugal in their next Group G match on Monday, bringing back memories of the 1966 World Cup quarter-final where North Korea lost 3-5 to an Eusebio-inspired
Portugal after leading 3-0.
North Korean midfielder An Yong Hak knew just what he wanted when asked about his hopes for this meeting 44 years later, reported AP.
"Revenge," he said. "We'll try to get revenge for 1966."
