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N Korea seeks FIFA
probe into food-poisoning claim Source of
Article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4e3l6jS_BtT4vS3nGuzpoYvDZ9gD97CR32O0 By JAE-SOON CHANG – 9 hours ago SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North
Korea has accused rival South Korea of making its players ill with
"adulterated foodstuff" before last week's World Cup qualifier. The North Koreans want FIFA to
investigate the claim. The North's soccer association also
claimed in a statement late Sunday that the alleged food-poisoning is part of
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's "moves for confrontation"
with the North. North Korea coach Kim Jong Hun
raised the allegation after losing 1-0 to South Korea on April 1. "It was beyond all doubt that
the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated
foodstuff, as they could not get up all of a sudden just before the
match," a statement from the North said, expanding on complaints Kim
made in the wake of the loss. Kim had asked for the match to be
delayed and moved to a neutral site, claiming three of his players had food
poisoning. FIFA rejected the request. The Korea Football Association, the
South's soccer federation, said a professional sports doctor examined the
North Korean players and found no serious problem. More detailed
examinations, including blood tests, were refused. "If an accident happens during
training or transit, and it affects the match, the host country should take
responsibility for the accident," Kim Joo-sung, head of the KFA's
international affairs department, said Monday, according to Yonhap news
agency. "But matters related to hotels or the food are the
responsibility of the visiting team." The match was played amid frayed
ties between the two Koreas since the conservative Lee took office last year
with a pledge to get tough with the North. It also came amid high tensions over
Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch plan. The North fired the rocket over
Japan on Sunday, claiming it was a satellite launch. But South Korean and
U.S. officials said no object entered orbit. The North's soccer association also
renewed a complaint about the decision of the referee not to award a goal
early in the second half of Wednesday's game, claiming star striker Jong
Tae-se's header crossed the goal line before it was saved. Television replays
were inconclusive. "The match thus turned into a
theater of plot-breeding and swindling," said the statement, carried by
the official Korean Central News Agency. "It is as clear as noonday that
it was a product of the Lee Myung Bak group's moves for confrontation with
the DPRK and a deliberate behavior bred by the unsavory forces instigated by
it." DPRK is the abbreviation for North
Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "North Korea can lodge an
objection with FIFA and wait for a decision," the KFA said of Kim's
complaint about the goal, according to Yonhap. South Korea's win put the 2002 World
Cup semifinalists atop Group B in Asian qualifying with 11 points, one point
ahead of North Korea in the five-team group. |
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