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<\/p>\nRi Kum-Hyang (C) of Naegohyang Women\u2019s FC (PRK) celebrates after scoring a goal throughout the AFC Women\u2019s Champions League match between Naegohyang Women\u2019s FC (PRK) and ISPE WFC (MYA) on the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon on November 15, 2025. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A women\u2019s football club will on Sunday be the primary sports team from North Korea to go to neighboring South Korea in eight years.<\/p>\n
READ: A take a look at North-South Korean sports ties<\/strong><\/p>\n The isolated and nuclear-armed country\u2019s Naegohyang Women\u2019s FC will play the South\u2019s Suwon FC Women three days later within the Asian Champions League semi-finals.<\/p>\n AFP looks on the trip, the politics and the logistics.<\/p>\n The 2 Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict resulted in an armistice, not a peace treaty.<\/p>\n Sports cooperation helped trigger a thaw in inter-Korean ties after North Korea sent athletes, cheerleaders and a high-level delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics within the South.<\/p>\n READ: Two Koreas hold first unification basketball match in 15 years<\/strong><\/p>\n The 2 Koreas also fielded their first unified Olympic team \u2014 a joint women\u2019s ice hockey squad \u2014 on the Pyeongchang Games.<\/p>\n Ri Sol Ju, the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, also visited South Korea in 2005 as a part of a North Korean cheering squad for the Asian Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n But relations have sharply deteriorated since US-North Korea nuclear talks collapsed in 2019, with Pyongyang repeatedly declaring itself an \u201cirreversible\u201d nuclear state.<\/p>\n The Naegohyang squad is about to reach in South Korea by air from Beijing.<\/p>\n A complete of 39 people will make the trip, in accordance with South Korea\u2019s unification ministry, consisting of 27 players and 12 staff members.<\/p>\n They may stay at a hotel in Suwon, a city about 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Seoul and where Wednesday\u2019s match will happen.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s Suwon FC squad shall be based at the identical hotel.<\/p>\n The dining areas and travel routes shall be kept separate, local reports said, making encounters between the 2 sides unlikely.<\/p>\n The sport shall be at Suwon Sports Complex, which has a capability of just below 12,000.<\/p>\n Under South Korean national security laws it might be deemed illegal to own or brandish the North Korean flag or play its national anthem in public.<\/p>\n A separate law \u2014 the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act \u2014 also requires South Koreans to acquire prior approval from the unification minister before contacting North Koreans by any means.<\/p>\n A government official told AFP the North Korean players\u2019 visit had received prior approval, meaning it could not be considered illegal for South Koreans to exchange easy greetings with them.<\/p>\n Under Kim Jong Un \u201csports are viewed not simply as entertainment, but as a measure of national capability\u201d, said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert on the South\u2019s Kyungnam University.<\/p>\n Pyongyang is probably going \u201caiming to showcase what it sees as its \u2018overwhelming superiority\u2019 through sporting performance, using it as a possibility to send a powerful message that it’s superior to its \u2018hostile state\u2019 rival\u201d, he told AFP.<\/p>\n North Korea is traditionally strong in women\u2019s football, especially at youth level, where they’ve won multiple World Cups lately.<\/p>\n Naegohyang FC, based in North Korea\u2019s capital Pyongyang, is a rising force in the ladies\u2019s game within the country, in accordance with South Korea\u2019s unification ministry.<\/p>\n Founded in 2012, the club won the North Korean top flight within the 2021-22 season after defeating powerhouses April 25 Sports Club.<\/p>\n Naegohyang also beat Suwon \u2014 their opponents on Wednesday \u2014 3-0 within the Champions League group stage in November.<\/p>\n Because the Champions League is a club competition, national flags and anthems is not going to be used throughout the match.<\/p>\n North Korean cheerleaders wave the Unified Korea flag as they attend the boys\u2019s preliminary round ice hockey match between South Korea and Czech Republic throughout the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung on February 15, 2018. (Photo by Ed JONES \/ AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n North Koreans are usually not typically allowed in South Korea so no fans will travel across the border.<\/p>\n The visiting team will though, have loads of support.<\/p>\n Seoul\u2019s unification ministry will provide 300 million won ($200,000) to support South Korean civic groups planning to cheer each teams on the match.<\/p>\n It should cover tickets, cheering supplies and banners, a ministry official said, adding the event could help promote \u201cmutual understanding between the 2 Koreas\u201d.<\/p>\n About 2,500 supporters are expected at the sport, in accordance with the unification ministry.<\/p>\n A ministry official said civic groups would \u201clargely be left to make your mind up for themselves\u201d what they chant, but the federal government will give guidelines given the \u201cspecial nature\u201d of the event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see it as a rare and meaningful exchange between young South and North Koreans,\u201d Hong Sang-young, secretary general of the civic group Korean Sharing Movement, told AFP.<\/p>\n\u00a0The politics<\/h2>\n
\u00a0The logistics<\/h2>\n
\u00a0The law<\/h2>\n
\u00a0The club<\/h2>\n
\u00a0The fans<\/h2>\n
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