A North Korean women’s soccer team arrived in South Korea on Sunday. This sports exchange marks the first visit by North Korean athletes in more than seven years. Naegohyang Women’s FC landed at Incheon International Airport at 2:15 p.m. via Air China. The team will face Suwon FC Women on Wednesday in the AFC Women’s Champions League semifinal. Consequently the winner advances to the final on May 23 at the same venue.
The North Korean delegation includes 39 people. Specifically 27 players and 12 staff members make up the group. Seoul’s Unification Ministry approved the visit under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act. Therefore this sports exchange takes place despite inter-Korean relations at their lowest point in years. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared both Koreas as two hostile states in late 2023. Nevertheless the team arrived for the competitive match.
Public interest in South Korea has run unusually high for this sports exchange. All 7,087 seats for Wednesday’s semifinal sold within 12 hours. Civic groups have organized a joint cheering squad of about 3,000 people. The Unification Ministry plans to support the campaign financially. The related budget could reach up to 300 million won.
Some experts caution against assigning excessive political meaning to this sports exchange. Professor Yang Moo-jin said overinterpreting the visit could backfire diplomatically. He warned that North Korea might accuse Seoul of politicizing sports. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said the visit itself holds meaning. He noted that virtually all inter-Korean exchanges had suspended until now.
Victor Cha from CSIS called the visit significant given North Korea’s shutdown of all dialogue. He said the football match could demonstrate separating cultural exchanges from politics. Naegohyang previously defeated Suwon FC Women 3-0 during the group stage in November 2025. This marks North Korea’s first sports delegation to South Korea since December 2018. It is also the first North Korean women’s football team visit since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. This sports exchange thus offers a rare moment of contact between the two Koreas.
