The Unification Ministry in Seoul said on Monday that the North Korean women’s football club will visit South Korea for a face-off between the rival neighbours, making it the first sports team to play on the South’s soil since 2018.
North Korea’s Naegohyang Women FC are set to play South Korean Suwon FC Women in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League semi-finals on May 20.
What do we know about this rare game?
The ministry said Pyongyang has sent a list of a delegation of 27 players and 12 staff who will visit South Korea for the semi-finals of Asia’s top-tier women’s football club competition.
It did not give further details on the team’s exact arrival date, but the French AFP news agency reported that they would arrive on 17 May.
The winning club will play the league final against Melbourne City of Australia or Tokyo Verdy Belleza of Japan on May 23.
“The losing teams in the semifinals will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no playoff scheduled for third place,” the South Korean Unification Ministry said in a press statement.
What is the history of North-South sports relations?
The last time North Korean athletes competed in South Korea was in 2018 when shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations traveled there.
The two Koreas also fielded a historic unified ice hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang.
Monday’s developments come as Seoul, under President Lee Jae-Myung, seeks to improve years of strained relations with Pyongyang.
The two sides remain technically at war since the 1950–53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.
Edited by: Rana Taha