Malaysian media covering the Asian Cup qualifier in Thailand between Malaysia and North Korea were tersely given a lesson as to how to properly address North Korea.
During the pre-match news conference, a North Korean translator asked the Malaysian media present to stop referring to the country as North Korea. It’s called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Got it?
“Do not call us North Korea, there is no North Korea,” he said, bringing forth the existentialist conundrum that if one were to say North Korea does not exist, how do explain that piece of land labeled “North Korea” in atlases the world over.
If we don’t call it DPRK, and there’s “no North Korea,” then IS THE RUBANESQUE MAN WITH THE FUNNY HAIR EVEN REAL?
The official had interrupted the media conference that included a Q&A with the North Korean captain, Kim Yu Song, as well as the country’s coach, German national Jorn Andersen.
Malaysia’s match against North Korea was moved to Thailand after diplomatic relations between the two countries were strained following the murder of Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother at KLIA2, Kim Jong-Nam in February.
The second game occurs tonight at 7:00pm local time, and follows a thrashing from the North Korean side two days ago, with a 1-4 defeat.
Also, we’re sorry North Korea. We’ll try to remember to not call you North Korea.
