HAN Kwang-Tune was a teenage sensation courted by Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis.

In solely his second senior recreation in European soccer, Han beat former England goalkeeper Joe Hart to turn into the primary North Korean to attain in Serie A.

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Barely two years later the striker joined Italian giants Juventus.

However a mysterious chain of occasions was already in movement that will wreck Han’s promising profession and ship him again him to obscurity.

Han, who as soon as had the world at his ft, finds himself a digital prisoner of world politics.

He’s again in North Korea and enjoying for military crew April 25 within the home league, leaving the pariah state just for nationwide crew video games.

However even that’s higher than being stranded overseas for 3 years by the Covid-19 pandemic and being compelled to coach on his personal at an embassy, along with his promising profession in ruins.

It was a visit to Barcelona that set Han on the street to short-lived stardom.

North Korean chief Kim Jong-Un loves utilizing sport as a political device – identical to his dad Kim Jong-Il, who as soon as claimed to have hit a 38 under-par 34, together with a number of holes in a single, in his first ever spherical of golf.

On the Pyongyang Worldwide Soccer College, the motto is claimed to be: “Higher than Messi.”

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The regime was on the lookout for an academy in Europe to coach their greatest younger footballers and selected Fundacion Marcet in Barcelona.

Coaches travelled to Pyongyang and chosen 18 gamers, together with Han, to go to Catalonia within the autumn of 2013.

Jose Ignacio Marcet, president of the academy and a former Barca and Actual Madrid participant, defined how the younger guests took time to adapt.

Marcet stated: “They couldn’t take dropping. They understood that the norm was to win.

“Due to this we needed to train them that dropping and making errors was important within the studying course of and it’s one of many keys to success.

“Week by week they started to alter their mentality.

“They grew to become extra relaxed and shortly began to adapt to the dynamics of Spanish tradition.

“The gamers that left had been utterly completely different to ones they had been once they arrived.

“I believe we managed to depart a mark on a rustic that doesn’t simply soak up international affect”.

A few of these children made a mark on the worldwide soccer stage lower than a yr later.

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Han scored the equaliser as North Korea’s under-16s got here from behind to beat South Korea 2-1 within the remaining of the Underneath-17 Asia Cup in September 2014.

He continued his European soccer schooling at an academy in Perugia as a part of a collaboration between the North Korean authorities and company Italian Soccer Administration, however couldn’t formally play due to Fifa guidelines concerning the switch of minors.

However Metropolis and Liverpool had been amongst these to indicate curiosity in his progress, with Reds chief scout Barry Hunter reportedly travelling to fulfill the participant and his representatives.

In 2016, Han was near becoming a member of Fiorentina with compatriot Choe Syong-Hok, who had scored the winner in that Asia Cup remaining.

However as a substitute he went on trial at Cagliari in February 2017 and was so spectacular for the youth groups that by April he was making his senior debut in opposition to Palermo.

And in Cagliari’s subsequent match, at dwelling to Torino, he made historical past after approaching as an 81st-minute substitute.

Along with his crew trailing 1-3, Han beat Hart within the Torino aim. It was significantly massive information as a result of one in every of Italy’s largest soccer embarrassments, on the 1966 World Cup of 1966, was a defeat by North Korea.

Han stated: “I really feel at dwelling right here. I am very completely happy and I want to thank the supervisor, my team-mates and the membership.”

But the political points that will ultimately ship Han into soccer exile had already surfaced.

Worldwide team-mate Choe’s time at Fiorentina had ended after 4 months as a result of it was discovered that his wage was being funnelled again to the North Korean authorities.

Related issues had been raised about Han’s wages, particularly after he signed a five-year skilled contract with Cagliari in June 2017.

However for now he was free to proceed his promising profession – albeit with some interference from again dwelling.

Han went on mortgage to Serie B facet Perugia the place his objectives needed to do the speaking for him – as a result of the North Korean regime blocked an interview on Italian tv.

Perugia president Massimiliano Santopadre stated: “A name from a shadow ministry determine arrived and it blocked every thing.

“Negotiating, like on the switch market, was inconceivable, too, as a result of Pyongyang need to speak solely and solely with Han.

“The state of affairs with their authorities has turn into much more inflexible and their footballers have been prohibited from showing on TV, in any other case they might have repatriated him. Han is scared.”

No matter his fears, the striker saved doing effectively and after two seasons at Perugia, he went on one other mortgage, this time to Juventus’ Underneath-23 facet and with an obligation to purchase on the finish of the two-year deal.

Han, in a written put up by way of the ISM Worldwide Scouting Heart, stated: “It has been a good distance however lastly I can say my dream got here true [after] scoring my first aim within the Serie A and changing into the primary North Korean to put on such an vital shirt as Juventus’.”

Juventus referred to as Han as much as the bench of the primary crew in October 2019 and on January 2 202,0 they purchased him from Cagliari for round £3m.

However solely six days later, the 21-year-old was offered on for twice the worth to Qatari facet Al-Duhail.

What was happening? Effectively, let’s rewind to the tip of 2017, the yr Han arrived in Cagliari.

In June of that yr, Han had made his senior debut for North Korea in a pleasant in opposition to Qatar.

However in September, his nation carried out its sixth nuclear check, prompting the United Nations Safety Council to announce additional sanctions.

In November, North Korea upped the ante nonetheless additional by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile.

So in December, the UN introduced that each one North Koreans working and “producing international export earnings that the DPRK…makes use of to help its prohibited nuclear ballistic applications” must be despatched dwelling by December 22 2019.

Given the stipulations of Decision 2397,  it stays unclear how Cagliari, Juventus and Al-Duhail bought away with promoting and shopping for Han in January 2020.

And solely Han is aware of what was happening in his head, however on the pitch he scored 5 objectives in 16 appearances as Al-Duhail gained the Qatar Stars League and completed runners up within the Cup.

However Han’s look instead within the remaining recreation of the 2019/20 season, on August 20, can be the final time that the broader world noticed him for greater than three years.

Official paperwork and the odd media report are all there’s to fill within the blanks.

UN information present that Han’s contract with Al-Duhail was terminated by early 2021, in compliance with the prohibition on using North Koreans.

But Han couldn’t even go dwelling as a result of his homeland had closed its borders utterly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There’s allegedly proof that he flew from Doha to Rome on January 26. After which the path goes chilly and depends on rumour for practically three years.

An article in China quoted a former North Korean worldwide participant named An Yingxue as saying: “Han Guang-shong was trapped within the North Korean Embassy in China as a result of pandemic and educated alone for about two to 3 years.

“It’s a pity that Han Guang-shong couldn’t return to the North Korean soccer crew to take part within the recreation earlier throughout his time in China.”

However the first time anybody within the exterior world knew for certain what Han was doing and the place, was when North Korea lastly resumed aggressive soccer in September 2023 after a niche of practically 4 years.

Han performed the primary half of a 1-0 defeat in Syria within the opening recreation of the second spherical of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

In early 2024, Japanese media reported that Han was again in North Korea and enjoying for the April 25 Sports activities Membership.

The crew’s identify derives from the date that Kim Il-Sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-Il, established the predecessor of the Korean Individuals’s Military with a purpose to struggle the Japanese occupiers.

Multi-sports establishment April 25 belongs to the Ministry of Individuals’s Armed Forces and all its gamers are thought of military officers.

Little is understood now concerning the life and profession of footballer/soldier Han, who remains to be solely 25.

His final worldwide look was on November 19 final yr in a 1-0 dwelling defeat by Turkmenistan that left North Korea all-time low of their group within the third spherical of World Cup qualifying.

The sport, like earlier “dwelling” matches, was staged in Laos, due to what the regime described as “safety issues”.

North Korea lastly re-opened to restricted numbers of vacationers final month after a niche of greater than 5 years.

However the door appears to have slammed shut on Han’s goals of changing into a worldwide soccer star.