'Yeah, nah… we won't be doing that': North Korea demands two Australians who pranked brutal regime into letting them compete in pro golf tournament return and apologise on national TV

  • Two Brisbane men fooled North Korea into believing they were golfers
  • Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay played the annual golf championships there
  • They cut short their Beijing trip and pretended to be Australian Golf team 
  • Now North Korea wants the pair to return to Pyongyang and apologise 

North Korea has demanded that two Australians return to Pyongyang and apologise on national TV for fooling the regime into thinking they were professional golfers.  

Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay, both 28 and from Brisbane, cut short their polo trip in Beijing to pose as top golfers and enter an international tournament by email. 

The pair pranked authorities into believing they were the Australian Golf team, and went on to play so poorly a caddy told them they brought shame to their families.

But now the secretive state wants an apology from the men after they were left feeling embarrassed by the elaborate stunt, Mr Ruig said.

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Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay, both 28, fooled North Korea into believing they were top golfers to flunk at the international tournament in the secretive state

Now the secretive state wants Mr Shay (right) Mr Ruig (left) to apologise on national television (pictured wearing dark green blazers made up with the Australian logo on the breast)

'We've been told by the travel agent who arranged the trip that North Korea wants us to go back to make an official apology on live TV,' he told the Courier Mail.

'Yeah, no … we won't be doing that any time soon.'

'Years of hard labour in a North ­Korean prison doesn't exactly appeal.' 

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia earlier in the week, the pair explained they had entered the tournament via email and never expected the joke to go any further.

'We just emailed them really. I don't think they're massive on the internet over there so I don't think they had many opportunities to research,' Mr Shay, director of Nodad Design And Construct, told Daily Mail Australia.

'We didn't think we'd actually be accepted.'

But the prankster pair say they won't be apologising to North Korea any time soon

But to Mr Shay and Mr Ruig's surprise they were accepted and they 'just went for it'.

The pair had claimed to be low handicaps and even had green blazers with the Australian logo on the breast made to look the part. 

'Everyone thought we were actually pretty legit,' Mr Shay said, until they 'put the ball in the river'.

'We didn't do well,' Mr Shay said, laughing.

'Our caddy said we brought great shame upon our families.'

Mr Shay said the pair barely even play golf leisurely.

The people in North Korea 'were all pretty respectful over there', Mr Shay said. 

There were 85 international competitors at the North Korean Amateur Golf Championships.

Most were just off scratch with low handicaps, Mr Shay said.

The pair cut short their polo trip in Beijing (pictured) to pose as top golfers and enter the international tournament by email

They were told by a caddy that their poor golfing brought 'great shame' upon their families

The two-day tournament in early October was based at Pyongyang Golf complex, North Korea's only golf course, about 27km from capital city Pyongyang.

Kim Jong-Il is claimed to have opened the course in 1987 and shot 11 hole-in-ones on his first ever attempt at golf, with a world record 38 under par.

The Brisbane men were chaperoned around for the entire five-day trip as part of the conditions of their travel.

They were taken on official visits around the city, and pictures show them standing at the Mansudae Grand Monument statues of Kim Jong-Un and Kim Jong-Il with bouquets of flowers.

Mr Shay said they were chaperoned around for the entire five-day trip as part of their conditions.

The pair have been friends since they met at Brisbane Boys College. Mr Ruig is associate director at property group Cushman & Wakefield.

Lupine Travel confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the two men competed in the North Korean Amateur Golf Championships.

The Brisbane men were chaperoned around for the entire five-day trip as part of the conditions of their travel

 

 

 

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