Kim Jong Hun went immediately on the defensive when asked about his North Korean team on the eve of their opening World Cup match against five-time champion Brazil.

Get it right: coach Kim Jong Hun chastised a reporter at a World Cup press conference for referring to his team as North Korea.

After replying in his World Cup press conference to the opening question about injuries — "Nobody is injured. They're all in top shape" — coach Kim bristled at a follow up from a South Korean reporter, speaking in Korean, who referred to his country as North Korea rather than the nation's official title: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"There's such no country called 'North Korea,"' he said, testily. "Next question."

Though commonly called "North Korea" abroad, the reclusive communist nation refers to itself as the "DPRK" in English or "Chosun" in Korean, the pre-colonial name of the Korean peninsula.

Fifa, football's world governing body, refers to North Korea as DPR Korea, while it lists South Korea as Korea Republic.

The exchange brought to light the political and linguistic differences between the two Koreas, which have been divided into north and south since 1945 and separated by a heavily fortified border since the Korean War of the early 1950s.

South Koreans call their country "Hanguk," and refer to North Korea as "Bukhan" — North Korea.

North Koreans call the entire peninsula "Chosun," and refer to South Korea as "Nam Chosun" — South Korea.

Kim also was asked whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had a say in the selection of players. A Fifa media official cut the reporter off, reminding journalists not to ask political questions.

The official also cut off a question about whether North Korea's games would be aired live in the North. The South Korean broadcaster holding the broadcast rights for the entire peninsula has said it would not feed the coverage live to the North, as it has in the past, due to political tensions.

Kim said briefly that he was "not involved" in the matter.

The North Korean coach has shown his impatience for the media in the past, notably last year in Seoul, when he abruptly stalked out of a post-match news conference after accusing South Korean officials of deliberately poisoning his players.

South Korea beat North Korea 1-0 during that World Cup qualifier held in Seoul.

On Monday, the Fifa media official, Gordon Watson, contradicted reports that the North Korea squad had been overly secluded in South Africa, saying that North Korea had fulfilled all its mandatory media obligations and describing the team "very cooperative."

This is the first time both Koreas have qualified for the same World Cup tournament. North Korea's first and only previous trip to football's marquee event was in 1966 when it produced a shocking win over Italy en route to the quarter finals. South Korea is contesting its eighth World Cup, more than any other Asian country.