FIFA announced Wednesday it has closed its inquiry into widespread reports that North Korea punished its soccer team and coach after their poor showing at the World Cup.

The decision was based at least in part on a letter from the North Korea soccer association saying that, to use FIFA’s sparse wording, there had been no “sanctions [against] the coach and that the reports on this matter were baseless.” There was no description of how or whether FIFA otherwise tried to find out whether the team and coach had been humiliated at an official event in Pyongyang. The world federation said merely that it “checked all of its sources.” — T.L. Caswell

Editor’s note: Read T.L. Caswell’s take on the alleged abuse here.

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