North Korean Women's Football Team to Play Against South Korean Team This Month... First Inter-Korean Match in 8 Years Since 2018

Naegohyang Women's Football Club to Compete in AFC Women's Champions League Semifinal in Suwon on May 20

The North Korean women's football team is scheduled to visit South Korea in the middle or late part of this month. The team is coming to participate in the semifinals of an international football tournament, which will be held on May 20 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The last time North Korean delegates visited South Korea for a sports event was in December 2018, when a unified Korean table tennis team competed. With inter-Korean relations completely severed, attention is focused on whether this football match could open the door for dialogue for the first time in eight years.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to the Ministry of Unification and the Korea Football Association on May 4, the North Korean team "Naegohyang Women's Football Club" is scheduled to visit South Korea to play in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League semifinal, which will take place at 7:00 p.m. on May 20 at Suwon Sports Complex. Their opponent will be Suwon FC Women from South Korea. The four teams that have advanced to the semifinals are South Korea, North Korea, Japan (Tokyo Verdy Beleza), and Australia (Melbourne City FC), making the semifinal a rare inter-Korean face-off. Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young may attend the match in person, although a ministry official said, "Nothing has been decided yet."

The official entry date for the participating teams is May 17. The North Korean football team is expected to enter via Incheon International Airport. With Suwon having been designated early on as the final venue for the AFC Women's Champions League, whether the North Korean team would travel to the South became a major point of interest. Given that North Korea has maintained a stance of treating South Korea as a "hostile state," there was speculation that they might forgo the match rather than visit. However, contrary to expectations, North Korea reportedly expressed its intention to participate just before the registration deadline. North Korea has notified the organizers of a 39-member delegation, including 27 players (with 4 reserves) and 12 staff members.

The team that wins the semifinal will advance to the final, which will be held at 2:00 p.m. on May 23. Should the North Korean team reach the final, they will stay in South Korea for about a week. The players from participating countries will train at the auxiliary field of Suwon World Cup Stadium, raising the possibility that athletes from North and South Korea may encounter each other during training sessions.

On March 29, the North Korean Korean Central News Agency reported on the women's football team's qualification for the semifinals, sharing the news domestically. The North Korean women's football team is regarded as one of the strongest teams on the international stage. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, known as a sports enthusiast, has made "building a sports powerhouse" one of his key national objectives and is said to devote special attention to this cause.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.