North Korea posed World Cup ‘headache’ in 1966

THE British government hoped North Korea would fail to qualify for the 1966 World Cup finals as they believed the state’s presence in the competition could cause political “headaches”, documents have revealed.

Previously secret records released by the National Archives, shed light on the fraught exchanges between government officials over North Korea attending the finals.

The Foreign Office even considered refusing to grant visas to the North Koreans as a way to solve the diplomatic problem.

Britain, the hosts of the 1966 competition, did not at the time, officially recognise North Korea, which refers to itself as “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.

Korea was divided into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945.

Five years later, with Soviet assistance, the North embarked on a three-year war with South Korea. The conflict also drew in the US, Britain and China and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

With the Vietnam War looming and the Cold War in full swing, the relationship between North and South Korea and its ramifications for the rest of the world, was seen as a potential political tinderbox.

A Foreign Office memo written in the months before the World Cup reads: “The simplest way to solve the problem might be to refuse visas to the North Korean team.

“But if we do this the consequences could be very serious. Apparently FIFA has made it very plain to the FA that if any team has won its way through to the finals is denied visas then the finals will take place elsewhere.

After much official head- scratching it was decided to allow the North Korean flag to be flown at all matches alongside the flags of other competitors but national anthems would only be played for the two teams playing in the opening game and the two teams contesting the final.

The government insisted that the state be referred to as North Korea and not the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea made it through to the quarter finals of the competition, beating much-fancied Italy along the way.

North Korea have once again made this year’s finals but this time around they could face bitter rivals South Korea.