North Korea’s men’s soccer team bowed out of the Asian Games in acrimonious fashion against Japan on Sunday, lashing out at its opponents’ staff and physically confronting the referee following a loss to a rival that the DPRK demonizes as its former colonial ruler.

Japan edged the hotly contested quarterfinal 2-1 after scoring a penalty with around 10 minutes remaining before tensions boiled over.

After Uzbek referee Rustam Lutfullin blew the final whistle, some North Korean players attempted to shovethe official, while captain Jang Kuk Chol and others pursued him around the pitch to voice their anger, video of