NORTH Korea became the fourth Asian team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa on Wednesday - along with South Korea, Japan and Australia - after a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

If anyone expected their under-15 football team here for the inaugural Asian Youth Games to be in celebratory mood after the country booked their first appearance in the World Cup finals since 1966, they would have been disappointed.

The Korean boys were the first athletes to arrive here for the Games when they touched down at Changi Airport on Wednesday night, and will take on Thailand at Victoria Junior College tomorrow on the opening day of the football tournament.

Yesterday morning, they were nowhere to be seen at the Swissotel the Stamford, the official Games Village, or at the adjacent Raffles City shopping mall.

While the hotel came to life with the arrival of footballers from various other countries, only one person from the North Korean camp was spotted in the lobby: Team manager Cho Won Cho.

The team from China were there lounging, the Saudi Arabian boys were in relaxed mood.

I asked Jia Xinyao, one of the Chinese footballers, if he had met them and he said: “We ran into them around the hotel, but didn’t speak. They keep to themselves. Anyway, we are confident of beating them.”

The Korean boys finally stepped out in public at 3.20pm, 40 minutes before their scheduled training session.

They huddled together, silent, staring intently as the Chinese team walked by and headed off for their own training session.

No smiles, just slog

The Koreans proceeded to Temasek Secondary School for their own session. Discipline was a running theme throughout their near two hours under the sun.

Their coach, who later gave his name as Park Er Song, put the boys through their paces under the watchful eye of an Aetos auxiliary police officer.

There was not a hint of sports science magic in the North Korean camp, just good old-fashioned hard work. There were no cooling vests to lower body temperature, post-training ice baths or even sports recovery drinks. All the boys had was water, and only three breaks during a session that was focused on fitness work.

They put in 100 per cent in all the sprints, forward rolls and everything else the coach threw at them.

“I heard that the North Koreans are a good side,” said Malaysia coach Khalid Shahdan, whom I met later. “It’s hard to say who the favourites in this competition are, but they are one of the candidates.”

The Malaysian squad took a walk through the shopping malls before dinner. The Chinese boys, meanwhile, were given two hours off after dinner to go sightseeing.

The only time the North Koreans youngsters were out was at training.

The only sign of Korean youthful exuberance was a childlike smile and a friendly wave from their No 10, R Jong Hyok, as the team bus left the training pitch.

We won’t likely see much smiling from them when they take to the pitch against Thailand tomorrow, not until the final whistle at least.

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