JAKARTA AFP: It is a scoreline so audacious even Kim Jong Il would have blushed.

North Korea’s women’s football team thrashed Tajikistan 16-0 at the Asian Games on Friday, a merciless demolition which saw three players score hat-tricks.

Unlike their former leader’s legendary first-ever round of golf -- in which he claimed to hit 11 holes-in-one -- the footballers’ achievement is recorded in the official record books of Asia’s regional Olympics.

North Korea’s women, whose win equalled the tournament record, have long been elite-level international performers. Pyongyang has invested in sporting success in recent times, opening an elite football academy for young boys and girls five years ago in the capital, as well as a top-class ski resort.

But the women’s success has far outstripped their male counterparts, including three Asian Games gold medals, three Asian Cups and the last under-17 and under-20 World Cups.

Current leader Kim Jong Un appears to have taken particular interest in women’s football, reportedly visiting the team in training before the last Asian Games to offer “valuable instruction on how to win the gold medal”.