Paartalu and Co. were drawn against North Korean side April 25 Sports Club in the inter-zone play-off semi-finals of the 2017 edition of the AFC Cup.

After a 3-0 win in the home leg, Paartalu and his Indian Super League side had to travel to the secretive state for the second leg. 

In an interview with Matt Davis of BBC, Paartalu explains what the trip was like, including all the recent fears of nuclear bomb tests. 

"The last day of our visit there was a missile getting fired off over our hotel room, you can't exactly prepare for something like that," Paartalu told the BBC.

"It is one thing going to play somewhere where there may be a war going on, or is an unstable area, but North Korea is a different kettle of fish.

"The Australian government had put out a warning urging people not to travel to North Korea, there was no consular or embassy there and there was the threat of a nuclear war."

The former Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar midfielder said arriving in Pyongyang, via Mumbai and Beijing, was a real eye-opener. 

"Everything you see and hear on the news is different to what you see first hand. It was a bit surreal landing in an almost empty airport," he said. 

"It was an international airport, but just one plane was landing. There was confusion with our bags and we had to spend two hours there. In that time, all the shop staff and immigration staff clocked off and all the lights went out. We were inside the airport all alone."

The drama didn't stop there, with many players losing boots and the coaching staff losing their equipment. 

"We had no boots, training kits or balls for the first training session. The boots we bought were cheap quality, some were the wrong size. It was not what you expected from a professional environment. When we got back to the hotel from the first training session, everything was suddenly there."

The game finished 0-0, and Paartalu admitted the side were reluctant to celebrate if they had scored. 

Afterwards, it was all about getting out as quick as possible. 

"We had six channels in the hotel, including some Chinese ones, a propaganda channel and Al Jazeera. Lo and behold I watched that North Korea had launched a missile at 6am that morning," he said. 

"As we were checking out a guy told us that if we had stood outside the hotel at 6am we would have seen the missile go over our hotel, it had been fired from the airport and the trajectory was clear for everyone to see.

"The boys looked at each other, like 'let's get out of here as quickly as possible'. When it got to that point, it hammered home 'let's just get the hell out of here'."

Paartalu added: "North Korea is a beautiful country, blue skies, plants and flowers and greenery and farms," said Paartalu. "It does not make you feel uneasy at all.

"Even travelling around you are just excited to see it, how many people get to see that? If I had not been playing football, there would have been no chance I would have been able to enter the country.

"I will never forget the trip and am so glad I got the chance to do it. People will ask me about it for years to come - not many people can say they have been to North Korea."

The most revealing part of the interview came when Paartalu spoke about his experience with the North Korean players on the pitch.

"The biggest thing I will take from the trip is not to believe everything you read on the news. There is one guy or a handful of guys who are trying to do some crazy stuff," he said. 

"The feeling I had was I felt sorry, sorry for the young boys training with a smile on their face, the ball at their feet, loving the game of football. To think this place could get wiped out and these people suffer really does make me feel sorry, I just hope it doesn't happen.

"After the game I got a big hug from their striker and he said congratulations with a smile on his face. I thought, 'I did not expect you to speak English and to do it with a smile on your face and being humble'. Sport does really bring people together, that is the beautiful game."

For the full interview, click here.