"Please Call Us Joseon, Not North Korea," North Korean Interpreter Requests Correction at Press Conference

Ryu Il, head coach of the North Korean national football team, is answering questions at a press conference. Photo by Asian Football Confederation website capture.

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Sung-yeol] The North Korean national football team interpreter requested at the official press conference to be referred to as "Joseon" instead of "North Korea."

On the afternoon of the 16th, North Korea achieved a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against Vietnam in the third match of Group D in the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Championship held at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Although North Korea had already been eliminated from the qualifiers after losses to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, they did their best to secure one win, avoiding a "complete loss elimination."

Since it was an international tournament, the coach's press conference was conducted through an interpreter. North Korea's coach Ri Yu-il held the press conference following Vietnam national football team coach Park Hang-seo.

On this day, Coach Ri praised the North Korean team for not giving up until the end, saying, "Our team united to achieve our goal. Every team is strong, but mistakes decide the outcome," and "Small differences were extremely important."

During the ongoing questions from the press, a domestic reporter asked, "Since you already lost to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, your elimination is confirmed. What does the last win against Vietnam mean to North Korea?"

In response, the North Korean interpreter beside Coach Ri said, "You keep calling us North Korea, but we are not North Korea; we are Joseon," and requested correction, "Please call us Joseon."

When the question was corrected to "What does Joseon mean to you?" Coach Ri answered, "We did not perform well in the first two matches," adding, "However, if all our players are sportsmen, I think it is educationally good to do our best until the last game."

He concluded his answer by saying, "From a mental and psychological perspective, for the sake of sports, we united and came up to fight until the very end."