Uh oh - North Korean athletes fall short of Kim Jong-un's medal target in Rio Olympics
North Korea's confident assertions that its athletes would leave Rio de Janeiro clutching a fistful of gold medals largely fell flat, leading to concerns that competitors will feel the wrath of Kim Jong-un when they return to Pyongyang.
Arriving in Rio on July 28, Yun Yong-bok, a senior official of the delegation, told reporters: "We didn't come all the way here to win a meagre five gold medals."
According to the Korea Times, the North Korean leader had ordered the head of the nation's sports commission to return with a minimum of five golds and 12 other medals.
In the final reckoning, North Korea's 31 athletes competed in nine sports, winning two gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes, a disappointing result after Pyongyang's athletes won four gold medals and two bronzes in London in 2012 .
The pressure even told on Om Yun-chol, the 2012 gold medal winner in the 56kg weightlifting category and the firm favourite in Rio, who eventually had to settle for silver.
"Those who won medals will be rewarded with better housing allocations, better rations, a car and maybe other gifts from the regime, but Kim is going to be angry and disappointed at these results," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and an authority on the North Korean leadership.
"Those he feels have let him down are likely to be punished by being moved to poorer quality housing, having their rations reduced and, in the worst-case scenario, being sent to the coal mines as punishment."
There were reports that after the North Korean football team was humiliated 7-0 by Portugal live on television in the 2010 World Cup, a number of coaches and players were sent to reeducation facilities or reassigned to work in mines.
"Those that were sent to mines were allowed to come back again after one or two years," Mr Shigemura said. "But the same could very well happen to these athletes."
Yet Kim Myong-chol, executive director of The Centre for North Korea-US Peace and an unofficial spokesman for Pyongyang, insisted that the athletes would return "to a warm welcome and be treated as heroes".
"It was a very strong showing by the North's athletes, even if we did not do quite as well as in London," he told The Telegraph.
But if you rank the results in terms of gold medals per GDP, then North Korea is close to the top of the table."
Medal winners will be rewarded with "new apartments, cars and many other gifts," he said, although he insisted that there would be no recriminations against those who had fared less well in Rio.
"There will be no punishments, just encouragement for them to do better at the next Olympics," he said.
North Korea's confident assertions that its athletes would leave Rio de Janeiro clutching a fistful of gold medals largely fell flat, leading to concerns that competitors will feel the wrath of Kim Jong-un when they return to Pyongyang.
Arriving in Rio on July 28, Yun Yong-bok, a senior official of the delegation, told reporters: "We didn't come all the way here to win a meagre five gold medals."
According to the Korea Times, the North Korean leader had ordered the head of the nation's sports commission to return with a minimum of five golds and 12 other medals.
In the final reckoning, North Korea's 31 athletes competed in nine sports, winning two gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes, a disappointing result after Pyongyang's athletes won four gold medals and two bronzes in London in 2012 .
The pressure even told on Om Yun-chol, the 2012 gold medal winner in the 56kg weightlifting category and the firm favourite in Rio, who eventually had to settle for silver.
"Those who won medals will be rewarded with better housing allocations, better rations, a car and maybe other gifts from the regime, but Kim is going to be angry and disappointed at these results," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and an authority on the North Korean leadership.
"Those he feels have let him down are likely to be punished by being moved to poorer quality housing, having their rations reduced and, in the worst-case scenario, being sent to the coal mines as punishment."
There were reports that after the North Korean football team was humiliated 7-0 by Portugal live on television in the 2010 World Cup, a number of coaches and players were sent to reeducation facilities or reassigned to work in mines.
"Those that were sent to mines were allowed to come back again after one or two years," Mr Shigemura said. "But the same could very well happen to these athletes."
Yet Kim Myong-chol, executive director of The Centre for North Korea-US Peace and an unofficial spokesman for Pyongyang, insisted that the athletes would return "to a warm welcome and be treated as heroes".
"It was a very strong showing by the North's athletes, even if we did not do quite as well as in London," he told The Telegraph.
But if you rank the results in terms of gold medals per GDP, then North Korea is close to the top of the table."
Medal winners will be rewarded with "new apartments, cars and many other gifts," he said, although he insisted that there would be no recriminations against those who had fared less well in Rio.
"There will be no punishments, just encouragement for them to do better at the next Olympics," he said.
