The North Korean national football team, which made it to the World Cup for the first time in 44 years, currently trains in the slum township of Tembisa in the East Rand region of Gauteng province of South Africa, about 30 minutes by car from Johannesburg.

At the heart of Tembisa stands the Makulong Stadium, where the North Korean team has been training since Wednesday. A security guard in the front gate of the stadium told the reporter, "Nobody except for the North Korean team can enter the stadium, and the team is scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m." The walls of the stadium are spiked with barbed wire.

When the reporter took pictures over the barbed wire, security guards tried to confiscate the camera and threatened to call the police. When asked if this was because of a request from the North Korean team he said yes. Instead the reporter moved to the four-star Protea Hotel 30 minutes by car from the stadium in Midrand, where the North Korean team is staying. There three large North Korean flags were hanging in the lobby, and some 20 police officers were on duty.