The North Korean women’s soccer team will play a rare tournament in South Korea

A North Korean women’s soccer team will play in a regional tournament in South Korea later this month, in a rare sporting exchange between the war-divided rivals.

The South’s Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said in a statement on Monday that Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women’s FC is expected to face Suwon FC Women in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League on May 20 in Suwon, south of Seoul.

The Korea Football Association, South Korea’s soccer body, said the AFC had informed it that the North Korean team had submitted a list of players and staff members who would come to Suwon. The KFA said North Korea would be fined by the AFC if the team did not participate in the semi-finals.

North Korean state media did not report on the football club’s expected trip.

North Korea last sent athletes to South Korea for a table tennis event in December 2018, continuing a period of diplomatic engagement highlighted by North Korean athletes’ participation along with a high-level delegation at the South’s Winter Olympics earlier that year. North Korea also sent its national women’s football team to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the last time its female footballers competed in the South.

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Naegohyang Women’s FC defeated Suwon FC Women 3-0 in the group stage in Myanmar last year, before beating a Vietnamese club in the quarter-finals. The winners of the May 20 semi-finals will meet three days later in Suwon in the final, while Melbourne City FC and Tokyo Verdy Beleza will face each other in the other semi-final.

While athletes from North and South Korea previously competed on combined teams and marched together in Olympic ceremonies during periods of warmer relations, the sporting exchanges have since faded as relations deteriorated, with no inter-Korean activities for years.

North Korea has been shying away from talks with South Korea and the US since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s broader nuclear diplomacy with US President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019 over disagreements over US-led sanctions against the North.

Tensions have increased recently as Kim steps up his nuclear and missile program against Asian American allies and the US mainland and hardens his stance on South Korea. Kim has labeled South Korea as his most hostile opponent and has shown sensitivity to South Korean soft power, aggressively pushing to block the influence of South Korean culture and language among its people.

Published on May 4, 2026