Pak Seung-zin

Pak Seung-Jin

Personal information
Date of birth	11 January 1941
Place of birth	Japanese Korea
Date of death	5 August 2011 (aged 70)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Moranbong Sports Group
National team
1966–1974	North Korea
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Pak Seung-Jin (11 January 1941 – 5 August 2011) was a North Korean footballer.^[1] He represented North Korea at the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, scoring two goals, against Chile and Portugal.

Career

In his book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang, North Korean defector Kang Chol-hwan states that he met Pak in the Yodok concentration camp. He says that Pak and other players on the 1966 team were imprisoned for celebrating the team's victory over Italy in a bar, which was seen as "a sign of bourgeois decadence" by North Korean officials. According to Kang, Pak was in the camp for over 20 years.^[2][3] However, in the documentary film The Game of Their Lives, Pak and the other players were interviewed and denied there had been any retribution.^[4][5]

References

1. "E' morto Pak Seung-ZinChollima Football Fans". Calciocorea.altervista.org. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
2. "North Korean Soccer Unveiled". The New Republic. December 9, 2009.
3. Socci, Antonio (2001-06-11). "Ricordate la Nord Corea che battè l'Italia? Beh, la squadra finì in un lager perché osò far festa". Il Foglio (in Italian).
4. MacLeod, Calum (November 12, 2001). "Korea boys of '66 are alive and kicking". The Independent.
5. Demick, Barbara (June 22, 2002). "1966 World Cup Upstarts Absent but Not Forgotten". Los Angeles Times.