Fans claim former Juventus star who went missing for THREE years after Covid pandemic has resurfaced in North Korea

NORTH KOREAN star Han Kwang-song has resurfaced after going missing for three years after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former Juventus star was spotted representing North Korea in an international friendly against Japan in Tokyo this week.

Moving to Italy to follow his dreams of becoming a professional footballer when he was 16, Han scored his first Serie A goal when he was 18 for Cagliari.

Juventus were quick to snatch the forward who was certain to have a glittering career in Europe and represent his nation internationally.

But his country being the most secretive and repressive – North Korea – this has limited the stars success.

And led Han to be caught up in Kim Jong Un’s geopolitics during the pandemic which led to Han disappearing for three years.

Now 25 Han has resurfaced and has been spotted playing football again.

Eagled-eyed fans spotted Han playing in a World Cup qualifier against Syria back in November.

And days later the striker scored as North Korea demolished Myanmar 6-1.

This week supporters saw Han again on the pitch in North Korea’s 1-0 defeat to Japan in another World Cup qualifier in Tokyo.

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The two nations meet in the reverse fixture in North Korea on Tuesday.  

Born Pyongyang in 1998 Han was one of the lucky few to leave North Korea due to his footballing talent.

Supreme leader Kim Jong Un loves sport particularity basketball and football and sends North Korean athletes abroad as a tactic of soft power.

Han was apart of the Pyongyang International Football School that takes on 200 aspiring youngster every year.

Move to Juventus

It quickly became apparent Han would be able to make it professionally and even received interest from Liverpool and Manchester City.

Instead, he joined the academy at Cagliari, becoming only the second North Korean player to sign for a Serie A club after Choe Song-hyok a year earlier.

He shinned in Italian side and moved very quickly into the senior team.

Han became the first North Korean to compete in the Serie A and score after he netted a 95th minute goal against Joe Hart  in a 3–2 away defeat to Torino.

There was suspicion where his salary was going to as Kim Jong Un was known to send citizens abroad to fund the North Korea regime.

But Cagliari decide to hand the youngster his first professional contract in 2017.

Han spent two loan spells with Perugia in Serie B, scoring a handful of goals, and then played 20 times in 2019-20 for the Juventus under-23 side in Serie C.

Transfer to Qatar

His tenure at Juventus was was short-lived and in January 2020, he was transferred to the Qatari team Al-Duhail.

But due to North Korea’s ballistic missle test he United Nations Security Council [UNSC] demanded North Korean nationals working abroad to be deported by the end of 2019.

There were assumptions citizens working overseas from earning foreign currency to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

But this did not hinder Han’s move to Al-Duhail in 2020.

He scored five goals in 16 matches was key in Al-Duhail securing the 2019-20 Qatar Stars League title, marking the first major trophy of his professional career.

However this was the last time he was seen prior to his international comeback.

Where did Han disappear to?

Due to the sanctions imposed on North Korea, the Qatari club had no choice but to cancel Han’s contract and deport him from the country.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea implemented an extremely strict lockdown, prohibiting entry to anyone, including its own citizens residing abroad.

Forced to leave Qatar yet barred from returning to his homeland, Han boarded a flight from Doha to Rome on January 26, 2021.

From this point, his whereabouts became unknown despite the football leagues resuming after the pandemic, Han was not active on any team.

Reports suggested that Han was living with other North Korean nationals who were similarly stranded, housed in an embassy in Europe, waiting for their country’s borders to reopen.

Han remained out of the public eye until last November, when he made a sudden reappearance during a World Cup qualifier against Syria in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk