CANBERRA: North Korea have a reputation for boorish behaviour at sports events but at the Asian Cup, outbursts and protests were replaced by gracious praise as they proved the perfect guests.
At the Asian Games last October, North Korea's football coach Yun Jong-Su threw a furious tantrum and his bellicose rant earned him a 12-month ban -- and his place on the bench in Australia.
Caretaker Jo Tong-Sop has been the picture of calm, however, despite failing to end the communist state's Asian Cup victory drought which stretches back to 1980.
Jo regularly praised the host country and even indulged in a spot of sight-seeing. Adulation for supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, usually a mainstay of North Korean press conferences, has been surprisingly sparing.
"I've been very pleased while staying in Australia," Jo said ahead of North Korea's final Asian Cup Group B game against China, which they lost 2-1 to end with three defeats.
"Firstly because the local organising committee, including our team liaison officer, has been very kind to our team. They've done a perfect job for the accommodation and arranging everything. So that has really pleased our team and myself."
He added: "Each city we have visited during our stay in Australia was very beautiful and very wonderful, so I was very much glad to see that."
Australia at the height of the southern summer is certainly very different from Pyongyang, capital of the nuclear-armed country, in shivering January.
But North Korean footballers have not always behaved themselves Down Under. At the 2006 Women's Asian Cup in Australia, three North Koreans received bans for a physical attack on a referee.
Dark deeds continued at the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany, where five players tested positive for steroids -- a result they blamed on taking traditional musk deer gland medicine to treat lightning strikes.
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