CELEBRATED opera singer Suzannah Clarke is facing up to one of her toughest challenges to date - mastering Korean before singing before thousands at a North-East football stadium.

The Middlesbrough-born singer has volunteered to perform a rendition of the North Korean Friendship Song when the heroic Asian team of 1966 revisit their beloved Teesside, later this month.

The seven surviving members of the team, who famously knocked favourites Italy out of the 1966 World Cup, at Ayresome Park, will hear Suzannah's version of the unofficial North Korean national anthem before Middlesbrough's match with Leeds, on October 26.

But, as Suzannah confesses, getting her voice round the strange Oriental sounds will probably bring a tear to her eye as well.

"I've sung in Albanian, Russian and Czech before, but North Korean will be by far the most difficult.

"North Korean doesn't have an ABC alphabet - it is utterly alien to me. So I'm going to need some help with the pronunciation. If there are any North Korean out there willing to help, please give me a call.

"Once I get to grips with the lyrics, it should be a beautiful moment. It's the song they sang to Middlesbrough's mayor in 1966, and they don't know I'm going to do it."

Suzannah will sing from the pitch before the match, where the North Korean team are guests of honour.

She said: "Quite frankly, Middlesbrough should be proud of the way it welcomed the North Koreans. It is typical of the place that it took these unlikely visitors into their hearts."