North Korean Customs Targeted Referee, FIFA Says

Bloomberg - The top soccer official at this week's World Cup game in Pyongyang that ended in crowd trouble said he will file a report to ruling body FIFA on North Korean customs' treatment of the match referee.

Sunil Senaweera, FIFA's match commissioner at the March 30 qualifying game between North Korea and Iran, said Syrian referee Mohammed Kousa and his three assistants had their money confiscated and luggage searched excessively on leaving Pyongyang today.

Customs returned the cash after the group sought help from a Syrian diplomat and Korean Football Association official, he said. Senaweera has already sent FIFA a report on the crowd disturbances that may have a bearing on the Japan team's scheduled visit to Pyongyang in June. Trouble erupted after Sousa rejected a Korean penalty appeal and dismissed a Korean player for shoving him repeatedly.

``The treatment by customs was down to what happened in the match because all other customers went through without any problem,'' Senaweera said in an interview on flight JS 151 to Beijing from Pyongyang today.

The Korean F.A. yesterday said poor refereeing in the Iran match and a March 25 defeat to Bahrain in Pyongyang provoked players into pushing Sousa and the crowd into hurling glass bottles and seats at the Kim Il Sung stadium. Iran won the match 2-0.

``The treatment by customs was bad,'' Kousa said on the flight. He and his three Syrian colleagues were last to board the plane.


Senaweera said security at the stadium will have to improve if North Korea is to host Japan in a June 8 World Cup qualifying match. Hundreds of fans milled around the edge of the field before the start of the Iran game, delaying kickoff by 10 minutes.

``I called the security chief over and told him to move the fans to the terraces and he wasn't bothered about anything,'' Senaweera, secretary general of Sri Lankan soccer's ruling body, said. ``He was annoyed with me.''

After the final whistle, the match officials stayed on the field for 25 minutes before making a dash for the tunnel under a shower of bottles and plastic seats. At least half of the crowd of about 70,000 was still in the stadium.

Security officials ignored advice to open all the gates in the ground and to usher fans out, Senaweera said. Thousands waited outside the main stand for two hours before dispersing.


FIFA can make teams play in empty stadiums as punishment for crowd trouble. Senaweera said the Japan game should go ahead in Pyongyang only if security is bolstered.

``They don't have much international experience of controlling crowds,'' he said. ``It will be dangerous to hold the Japan match there unless we advise security personnel and they take responsibility.''

North Korea's soccer association said yesterday the referees had showed ``deliberated one-sidedness'' and that there would be no repeat of the crowd scenes at the Japan game. The Japanese Football Association had asked to bring as many as 5,000 fans.

Iran, on seven points, leads the group in which the top two are assured of a place at next year's World Cup finals in Germany. With three matches to play, Japan has six points, Bahrain has four and North Korea has none.