The Koreas | Diplomacy | Society | East Asia

North Korea Returns to the South Via Women’s Football 

Under Pyongyang’s new “two states” policy, sports diplomacy has been repackaged as inter-state, not inter-Korean, exchanges. 

The Naegohyang FC women’s football team hoists the trophy after winning the Asian Football Confederation’s women’s club championship in Suwon, South Korea.

Last week, North Korea sent a sports team to South Korea for the first time since 2018. What should have been a routine women’s football tournament was instead a glimpse into the state of play for inter-Korean relations. 

Observers closely watched the encounter for signs about the trajectory of engagement between the two Koreas. As Pyongyang deepens its two-state policy toward a South Korean government still searching for a new framework for inter-Korean relations, the tournament offered a rare test of how both governments would manage direct contact. The match was an important departure from the post-COVID baseline and offered insight into how North Korea now approaches the South: not as a partner in reconciliation, but as a separate state. Just as importantly, it exposed how slowly Seoul has adapted its legal and political frameworks to that shift.

Since emerging from its self-imposed pandemic isolation in late 2023, North Korea has cautiously resumed participation in international sporting events. The Kim Jong Un regime has dispatched athletes to the Asian Games, international taekwondo competitions, and other events abroad. But Pyongyang has remained highly selective about where its athletes travel and whom it hosts.

That caution was evident in the case of Japan. North Korea permitted its men’s football team to travel to Tokyo for World Cup qualifiers, but when the time came for Japan’s team to travel to Pyongyang for the return fixture, North Korea abruptly canceled the event. 

Meanwhile, with South Korea, Pyongyang had avoided virtually all forms of sporting contests for years except in third countries.

The Asian Football Confederation’s women’s club championship therefore represented a notable exception. North Korea’s Naegohyang Football Club advanced through the tournament and earned an opportunity to play in the semifinal hosted in the South Korean city of Suwon, about 30 kilometers south of Seoul. With support from the AFC and South Korea’s Korean Football Association, Pyongyang approved travel for the North Korean team to South Korea via Beijing. 

By winning their match against Suwon FC on May 20, Naegohyang FC extended their stay in South Korea to vie for the championship against Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza on May 23. They won 1-0 in the final, allowing the North Korean athletes to depart the next day with both the title and a $1 million prize.

South Korea’s Restrained Elation

For the Lee administration, Naegohyang FC’s trip to South Korea provided a rare opportunity for contact with a North Korean organization, however minimal. The biggest challenge during the visit was balancing enthusiasm for renewed contact with the need to avoid politicizing the event.

Based on existing laws related to inter-Korean contact, Naegohyang FC’s visit required extraordinary administrative measures. Unlike standard visa procedures, travel by North Korean nationals to South Korea falls under the authority of the Ministry of Unification through the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act. The Korean Football Association submitted its request on behalf of the AFC only days before the match, and the ministry moved quickly to approve the visit.

Officially, the South Korean government insisted that it would not inflate the significance of the event beyond that of an ordinary football match. In practice, however, the Ministry of Unification took steps to create a favorable atmosphere. The ministry authorized use of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to support civic groups participating in welcoming activities, including banners, and stadium tickets. The funding amounted to roughly 300 million won (around $200,000). Established under South Korean law, the hefty Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund operates independently of standard annual budget cycles and is specifically designed to finance initiatives related to inter-Korean engagement.

With monetary support, inter-Korean support groups rallied behind Naegohyang FC. There were well-wishers at the airport, as well as cheering squads present during both the semifinal and final matches, despite pouring rain and cold weather for the first contest that emptied out hundreds of other seats.

While the South Korean government actively encouraged this support from civic groups, the administration attempted to exercise restraint at the political level. Rather than publicly elevating the event into a symbol of reconciliation – something that could have triggered backlash from Pyongyang – South Korean officials accepted the AFC’s request that the sporting event be treated separately from politics and avoided dispatching government officials to attend the event. 

When questioned about it in the National Assembly, the normally outspoken Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young simply stated that he hoped the match would set a good precedent. However, Chung did express support for the North Korean team in the final, stating, “They beat Suwon and advanced to the final, so I hope they win the championship if possible… They happen to be facing Japan, so please give them strong support.”

After Naegohyang FC’s victory, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung offered words of........

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