Mugabe's 'Noah's Ark' gift to North Korea

London, May 19 (ANI): Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has given a "Noah's Ark" gift to his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-Il.

In a bizarre experiment involving pairs of African animals, including elephants, zebras, giraffes and antelopes, Mugabe has secretly flown them to North Korea.

He described the gift of animals as "football payback," news.com.au and The Times reported.

Last month, it was announced the North Korean soccer team would hold a training camp in Zimbabwe ahead of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force chairman Johny Rodrigues told the BBC that the animals were being secretly caught in pairs over the past two months in the Hwange National Park, western Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's director general for national parks Vitalis Chadenga last week confirmed a plan to send animals to North Korea, but said Mr Mugabe was not behind it.

"I can confirm that we received an application from the Democratic Republic of North Korea and we are still processing the application" he told The Standard, a Zimbabwean newspaper.

As a first gesture, a giraffe has been the first animal to be sent to North Korea. (ANI)