TYRANT Kim Jong-un has banned Tottenham Hotspur matches from being shown in North Korea.
His madcap regime insists no games involving teams with players from his hated neighbours are broadcast there — and Spurs are captained by South Korean icon Son Heung-min.
It means impoverished citizens allowed to watch Premier League games before the 5pm news do not get to see the erratic North London club on their screens.
But Jong-un may come to regret his ban on 32-year-old Son and his Spurs side as they take on the tubby despot’s favourite team Manchester United tomorrow.
A report also revealed coverage in North Korea of last year’s Premier League did not include Wolverhampton Wanderers because of their South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan, or Brentford, who have his countryman, defender Kim Ji-soo.
Match coverage in the secretive state is shortened from 90 minutes to 60 and games are shown before news bulletins — and about four months after they are played.
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With his team languishing 14th in the league, Tottenham fan Tom Bell said: “The way this season has gone for Spurs, North Koreans can count themselves lucky not being subjected to their games.”
The findings come in a report by the independent US think tank Stimson Center’s probe into North Korea.
State TV is rife with propaganda but sport is “one of the few moments each day when state TV is not trying to send an overt or underlying message to its viewers,” analysis found.
The Center’s Martyn Williams said: “We thought it was interesting.
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“We just saw a lot of football on KCTV. It’s the main international sport they broadcast.”
The report says that in 2022, North Korean telly carried coverage of England’s top flight plus Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1 and Italy’s Serie A.
But the following year, KCTV settled the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the World Cup.
English football has also found fans among other dictators.
Late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was an Arsenal fan and Zimbabwe tyrant Robert Mugabe, who died in 2019, supported Chelsea.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
