‘Tearing down barriers’: North Korean footballers arrive in Seoul for first time in eight years | South Korea
A North Korean women’s football club came to South Korea for the AFC Women’s Champions League semi-final; this was the first visit to the South by athletes from the isolated state in eight years.
The delegation, consisting of 27 players and 12 staff, entered the country before the match between Naegohyang FC and South Korea’s Suwon FC Women’s team in Suwon on Sunday.
The visit was approved under the inter-Korean exchange law and covers the players’ stay until next weekend, but they could leave earlier if the team is eliminated, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.
According to Yonha news agency, based on the South Korean football federation, all 7,087 tickets offered to the public were sold out within one day.
North Korea has called South Korea its “most hostile state” in recent years and has refused to reunite the country divided by the 1950-1953 Korean war. In response, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for improved relations.
“It may be difficult to hope for a complete resolution of tense relations with this one-time visit,” said a spokesman for South Korea’s ruling Democratic party, vowing to make efforts to open the door for exchanges and dialogue.
“We hope that this will be an opportunity to break down the high barriers between the South and the North,” the spokesman said.
The South Korean government said it would keep its role limited as the fixture was an international club competition, but would provide logistical support to the visiting team.
The unification ministry said it had allocated 300 million won ($200,000) from its inter-Korean cooperation fund to support a cheering squad for each side, citing the event’s potential to promote mutual understanding between the two Koreas.
Since the match will be played between clubs and not national teams, there will be no national anthems or political symbols, including the Korean Unification flag, in line with Asian Football Confederation rules.
The white flag, bearing the blue silhouette of the peninsula, has often been used to represent unity in international sporting competitions involving both sides.
According to South Korean media, Seoul’s unification minister Chung Dong-young is considering attending the match.
The semi-finals are scheduled to start in Suwon on Wednesday at 19:00 local time (10:00 GMT). The winning team will face either Melbourne City or Tokyo Verdy in the final on Saturday.
If Naegohyang loses, the North Korean team is expected to return home the next day, the ministry said.
