North Korea, which will play at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in June, will spend its last training period in Switzerland, according to a Swiss parliamentary delegate.
Walter Mueller, a member of the Swiss Nationalist Party, said his delegation, having visited North Korea, was in the same airplane as North Korea's national team, bound for Beijing on April 10 from Pyongyang.
"The team was heading first to Spain, then Switzerland," he said, quoting a source. Regarding where the team will stay in Switzerland, he said he had no information.
The North Koreans under the leadership of Kim Jong-hun will be playing in the World Cup for the first time since its memorable 1966 appearance.
Amid high expectations, pressure is also building on Kim.
The Associated Press said earlier this month that rumors had once surfaced that Kim would be replaced by Guus Hiddink, a former coach for the South Korean national team during the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002.
North Korea will play its first match against Brazil in Johannesburg on June 15.
The fact that the North Korean team chose Switzerland as their last overseas training destination prior to the World Cup has a history.
In 2008, a Swiss national soccer coach spent two months in North Korea training young athletes, which was widely publicized by the Swiss media.
As a neutral country, Switzerland has special significance for North Korea.
It has provided the family of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with education opportunities, and has also been one of few vacation places for Kim's family.
Lee Chul, known as a member of Kim Jong-il's inner-circle, had spent nearly 30 years in Switzerland as North Korean ambassador, having taken care of the "leader's" family members.
In March, Lee was called back to Pyongyang, signaling that the succession of Kim's son, Jong-un, was getting near.
The Swiss parliamentary group came to Seoul from Beijing to spend the next week here.