Recently the Chinese websites and forums are filled with the talks of North Korea National football team are going to be sent to coal mine as punishment if they lose at the World Cup.  Is this true?  Netease talked about this “as a not verified news” on June 17 after North Korea’s 1-2 loss to Brazil.  Some sites claimed this news came from U. S. blogs and small websites. This article from IFeng talked about a “rumor” found on a Team Liquid forum posted by a Romanian:

最近在中国的网站和论坛上，网民热议着朝鲜球员可能在世界杯失利后受到下矿挖煤的处罚。真相抑或谣传，一时众说纷纭。17日朝鲜2比1负于巴西后，网易谈及挖煤处罚，称其为“未证实之传闻”。一些网站声称此传闻来源于美国博客和一些小站。凤凰网一文称，“谣传”始于Team Liquid论坛上一个罗马尼亚人的帖子：

“As I was turning in to see the second half of the Argentina vs S. Korea game, I heard the newscaster for TVR1( Romania’s national TV station) talking about four north Korean players gone missing from world cup.  It is believed that they have fled in order to avoid going back to North Korea.”

“当我开始收看阿根廷和韩国的下半场比赛时，我听到TVR1（罗马尼亚的国家电视台）的播音员谈论说朝鲜有四人失踪。人们相信他们这么做是为了逃离朝鲜。”

The article also stated that a former North Korea assistant coach said “If we lose, they will be punished, some players will be sent to work at a coal mine.”

此文还称一名曾任朝鲜国家队助教的人士透露“如果我们输球，球员将被惩罚，一些人将被送去煤矿挖煤。”

Ironically, North Korea was knocked out of their hope of advancing by Portugal again after the huge 0-7 loss.  According to News Times (AP), It was supposed to be North Korea’s revenge match against Portugal which for the first time was aired live in North Korea.

讽刺的是，朝鲜队的小组出线之梦正是被葡萄牙的一场7比0的屠杀所击碎的。据News Times(AP)，这本来是朝鲜的复仇之战，朝鲜官方更是对比赛做了现场直播。

"The Portuguese won the game and now have four points. We are ending our live broadcast now," a Korean Central Broadcasting commentator said, quickly cutting to footage of factory workers and engineers praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

“葡萄牙赢得胜利，积分达到4分。我们现在将结束直播，”朝鲜中央社的评论员说，接着电视讯号迅速转到工人和工程师热情赞扬领袖金正日的画面。

After the 7-0 humiliating loss, Chinese Netizens were sure that the poor North Korean football players are going to be sent to coal mines now, hence these photo-shopped Kuso pictures of North Korean football players as coal miners circulated on forums like MOP and Tianya.

朝鲜0比7的惨败之后，中国网民们确信朝鲜球员将被送至煤矿。猫扑上流传着朝鲜球员身着矿工装束的PS图。

True or not, I guess we can never be sure what really goes on with this mysterious North Korean football team in the mysterious country.

真相？谣言？也许谁都不知道这神秘之国的神秘之师将会面对什么。