Pak Seung-zin (a.k.a. Pak Sung Jin; 11 January 19415 August 2011) was a North Korean
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
. He represented
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
at the
1966 FIFA World Cup in England, scoring two goals, against
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. He was the first Asian footballer to score a goal in the World Cup finals.
Career
In his book, ''
The Aquariums of Pyongyang'', North Korean defector
Kang Chol-hwan claimed 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. However, in the documentary film ''
The Game of Their Lives'', Pak and the other players were interviewed and denied there had been any retribution.
References
1941 births
2011 deaths
Association football forwards
North Korean footballers
North Korea international footballers
1966 FIFA World Cup players
Moranbong Sports Club players
{{NorthKorea-footy-bio-stub