North Korean viewers are getting pretty fast coverage of World Cup matches on Korean Central Television. The broadcaster is airing most games on a one- or two-day delay, which is a big improvement from four years ago when it only broadcast games beginning with the second half of the tournament.
[Updated on December 12]
KCTV is also broadcasting all games with two exceptions: one of the first games between USA and Wales was skipped and the first three games involving the South Korean team. In contrast to 2018, games involving Japan are being broadcast this time.
During the group stage of the championship, KCTV usually broadcast four games each day. Taking advantage of its expanded broadcasting hours, the station puts games on around 10am, noon, 3pm and 9pm each day. With the beginning of the round of 16, KCTV has switched to two games per day. All of the coverage is edited with games cut down to about one hour rather than the roughly two hours they would occupy if broadcast unedited.
On December 7, KCTV aired the match between South Korea and Brazil. It was the first time a South Korea game had been aired in North Korea during the tournament and saw South Korean beaten 4-1 to be put out of the World Cup.
Since December 8 when the number of games has fallen, KCTV has been repeating some previous games.
Pitch side advertising is seen blurred in Korean Central Television coverage of the World Cup on November 23, 2022.
Pitch side advertising is seen blurred in Korean Central Television coverage of the World Cup on November 23, 2022.
In the first few days of the tournament, KCTV censors worked to blur the pitch-side advertising banners of South Korean companies Hyundai and Kia.
But soon they seemed to give up on that task.
A World Cup matched aired on Korean Central Television on December 4, 2022.
Here’s a list of the games broadcast so far, listed by the day they were aired and the time. The date the game took place is listed in parenthesis, games that were not aired are in italics.
November 22, 2022
- 1111 Qatar v Ecuador (11/20)
- 1600 England v Iran (11/21)
- 2119 Senegal v Netherlands (11/21)
- USA v Wales (11/21)
November 23, 2022
- 1114 Denmark v Tunisia (11/22)
- 1609 Argentina v Saudi Arabia (11/22)
- 2116 France v Australia (11/22)
November 24, 2022
- 1040 Mexico v Poland (11/22)
- 1602 Morocco v Croatia (11/23)
- 2117 Spain v Costa Rica (11/23)
November 25, 2022
- 1051 Belgium v Canada (11/23)
- 1606 Switzerland v Cameroon (11/24)
- 2127 Portugal v Ghana (11/24)
November 26, 2022
- 1055 Brazil v Serbia (11/24)
- 1546 Wales v Iran (11/25)
- 2120 Germany v Japan (11/23)
- Uruguay v South Korea
November 27, 2022
- 1035 Qatar v Senegal (11/25)
- 1222 Netherlands v Ecuador (11/25)
- 1559 England v USA (11/25)
- 2122 Australia v Tunisia (11/26)
November 28, 2022
- 1032 Poland v Saudi Arabia (11/26)
- 1218 France v Denmark (11/26)
- 1547 Costa Rica v Japan (11/27)
- 2141 Argentina v Mexico (11/26)
November 29, 2022
- 1035 Belgium v Morocco (11/27)
- 1211 Croatia v Canada (11/27)
- 1545 Spain v Germany (11/27)
- 2115 Cameroon v Serbia (11/28)
November 30, 2022
- 1034 Brazil v Switzerland (11/28)
- 1224 Portugal v Uruguay (11/28)
- 1543 Netherlands v Qatar (11/29)
- 2121 Ecuador v Senegal (11/29)
- South Korea v Ghana
December 1, 2022
- 1049 Wales v England (11/29)
- 1247 Iran v USA (11/29)
- 1545 Australia v Denmark (11/30)
- 2152 Tunisia v France (11/30)
December 2, 2022
- 1039 Argentina v Poland (11/30)
- 1216 Saudi Arabia v Mexico (11/30)
- 1547 Canada v Morocco (12/1)
- 2132 Croatia v Belgium (12/1)
December 3, 2022
- 1031 Costa Rica v Germany (12/1)
- 1229 Spain v Japan (12/1)
- 1547 Ghana v Uruguay (12/2)
- 2116 Cameroon v Brazil (12/2)
- South Korea v Portugal (12/2)
December 4, 2022
- 1118 Serbia v Switzerland (12/2)
- 1844 Netherlands v USA (12/3)
December 5, 2022
- 1539 Argentina v Australia (12/3)
- 2115 France v Poland (12/4)
December 6, 2022
- 1534 England v Senegal (12/4)
- 2129 Japan v Croatia (12/5)
December 7, 2022
- 1546 Spain v Morocco (12/6)
- 2120 Brazil v South Korea (12/5)
- Portugal v Switzerland (12/6)
December 8, 2022
- 1144 Australia v Denmark (11/30) (Repeat)
December 9, 2022
- 1046 Saudi Arabia v Mexico (11/30) (Repeat)
December 10, 2022
- 1621 Brazil v South Korea (12/5) (Repeat)
December 11, 2022
- 1329 Argentina v Netherlands (12/9)
December 12, 2022
- 1457 Croatia v Brazil (12/9)
