Naegohyang Women's FC will face Suwon FC Women on May 20 in AFC Women's Champions League semi-finals, marking first inter-Korean sports exchange since 2018.
11:45 AM
North Korea's Naegohyang Women's FC will travel to South Korea this month to compete in a regional tournament, marking the first inter-Korean sports exchange since 2018, Seoul's Unification Ministry announced Monday.
The club is set to face Suwon FC Women in the semi-finals of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League on May 20 at Suwon Stadium. The match is part of the tournament's finals stage being held in South Korea.
Pyongyang notified Seoul on May 1 that a 39-member delegation would make the trip. The delegation comprises 27 players and 12 staff members. The team is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport via Beijing on May 17, according to briefings shared by the Unification Ministry with reporters.
The last inter-Korean sports exchange occurred in 2018, when North Korea participated in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and fielded a unified women's ice hockey team with the South. Pyongyang subsequently sent athletes to additional sporting events before exchanges ceased.
The visit represents the first time a North Korean women's football team has competed on southern soil since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. The two countries remain technically at war following their 1950-53 conflict, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Sporting and cultural exchanges between them are very rare.
The AFC Women's Champions League is Asia's top-tier women's football club competition. The winning club from the Suwon match will advance to face the winner of another semi-final pairing in the tournament.
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