Frankfurt – Football's governing body Fifa revealed on Saturday that a total of five members of the North Korea team have now tested positive for banned anabolic steroids at the women's World Cup.
After defenders Song Jong-Sun and Jong Pok-Sim both tested positive before the North Koreans' final group game here, Fifa had the entire squad give samples and three more players also failed tests.
Both Song and Jong were pulled from the North Korea team before their final game against Colombia in Bochum on July 6 and the Koreans left Germany in the early hours of the next morning.
Delegates from the North Koreans have written to Fifa to explain and a delegation met with Fifa officials in Frankfurt on Saturday morning.
“Doping is always a shock,” said Fifa president Sepp Blatter.
“If we look at a situation where almost the entire team of players is confronted with such a situation, it is a predicament and this is also really hurting us. You can hear the emotion in my voice.
“We are confronted with a very, very bad case of doping and it hurts.”
Fifa's chief medical officer Professor Jiri Dvorak said the Koreans claim the banned steroids come from a chinese remedy, which includes an extract from the gland of the musk deer.
The remedy was administered to the players by the team doctor after several players were hit by a lightning strike on June 8 at their training camp in North Korea, which led to several players being hospitalised.
Dvorak said Fifa had been shown pictures by North Korean officials of the after-effects of the lightning strike and players being taken to hospital.
He added the North Korean team doctor had helped Fifa by handing over a sample of the remedy given to the players and in total the same 14 steroids, not all of them anabolic, were found in both the deer gland and in samples from the five players.
The steroids have been found in both A and B samples from the five players, but Fifa have said they will only release the names of the three new players at a later stage.
Michel D'Hooghe, chairman of Fifa's medical committee, said the matter would be handed to the governing body's disciplinary committee once all the facts are known.
“It is hard to determine right now, exactly where the blame lies and we need to find out more first,” said D'Hooghe.
“I have to say the North Koreans have co-operated with us fully over this and supplied a sample of the remedy given to help us.
“Both Mr Blatter and I received a letter from the North Koreans which was very open and we didn't have the impression they are trying to hide anything.”
In total, there have now been six failed doping tests at the World Cup, after Colombian player Yineth Varon failed an out-of-competition test for anabolic steroids in Leverkusen on 25 June.
Dvorak said the Colombian incident had been examined, finding that the player was given three separate injections, and the matter has been handed to Fifa's disciplinary committee. – Sapa-AFP