North Korean Soccer Coach Talks to 'Dear Leader' Via Invisible Phone

June 17, 2010— -- The North Koreans know a thing or two about secret programs, and the country's latest claim is a mysterious phone that allows Dear Leader Kim Jong-il help coach the team from afar.

North Korean manager Kim Jong-Hun reportedly gets coaching advice directly from the country's diminutive dictator via an invisible cell phone.

According to ESPN.com the coach has claimed he gets "regular tactical advice during matches" from Jong Il "using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye."

"Jong Il is said to have developed the technology himself," coach told ESPN.com.

While the stealth phone might be the latest of the North Korean leader's inventions -- in 2004 he claimed to have invented the hamburger -- it's just one in a series of oddball details to emerge from the country's first presence at the World Cup tournament in 44 years.

Trying to recreate some of the magic that led them to an historic victory over Italy the in 1966 World Cup, the North Koreans played No.1-ranked Brazil on Tuesday.

While losing to Brazil, the underdogs managed a face saving showing, 2-1 score.

Cameras caught a contingent of North Korean supporters in the stands cheering eagerly, each dressed exactly the same in a red shirt and cap and waving North Korean flags.

It's not certain, however, that any of those flag waving fans were North Korean.

In May, 1,000 Chinese nationals were essentially rented by the government of North Korea to sit in the stands and cheer, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.

Given that few citizens of the impoverished nation could afford to attend the games, or would be allowed to leave the country, the North Korean Sports Committee gave tickets to Chinese nationals, many of them actors and singers, to attend the event, Xinhua reported.