Kim Chol-su can bend it like Beckham, but he has never heard of the English football star. Names like Roy Keane and Ronaldo are also new to the 27-year-old North Korean who can slice through a defence without breaking a sweat.
But Kim got his first taste of international competition last week when the Beijing Celtic football team made history by becoming the first overseas amateur club to play in North Korea.
Celtic's players, who are all based in China, are mostly Irish, with the rest coming from England, Belgium, Sweden, Canada and China itself. Two of the players are from Hong Kong.
It was a small, but important step forward in North Korea's relations with the outside world at a time when tensions are rising in the region.
'Football is the platform but it's about so much more than that,' said Celtic player J.B. Terrins.
'This country has been so isolated for so long. A large element was just about showing these ordinary young guys that foreigners are not necessarily hostile; that we can easily get on well together.'
