N. Korea accuses Seoul of poisoning players before FIFA match

SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday made a belated accusation that South Korean hosts had incapacitated its football players just before a World Cup regional qualifier held here last week, urging the international football association FIFA to look into the matter.

"The main players of the football team of the DPRK could not get up due to
serious vomiting, diarrhea and headaches since the night of March 31, just a day
before the match," an unidentified spokesman for the North's football association
said in a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.
"It can be said that it was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a
deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as they could not get up all
of a sudden just before the match," the statement said.
Seoul beat the North Korean team 1-0 in the Wednesday match.
The North claimed its defeat was also partly due to what the spokesman called
"biased" calls by referees and accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of
being behind the plot.
"It is as clear as noonday that it was a product of the Lee Myung-bak group's
moves for confrontation with the DPRK and a deliberate behavior bred by the
unsavory forces instigated by it," it said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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