SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean women’s soccer team is scheduled to play at a regional tournament in South Korea later this month, in a rare sports exchange between the war-divided rivals.
The South’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said Monday that the Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women’s FC is expected to face Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League in Suwon, south of Seoul.
The AFC notified South Korea’s soccer body that the team’s participation in Suwon had been confirmed, the ministry said in a statement. However, North Korea’s state media has not reported on the soccer club’s expected trip.
North Korea last sent athletes to South Korea in December 2018 for a table tennis event, continuing a period of diplomatic engagement highlighted by the participation of North Korean athletes alongside a high-level delegation at the Winter Olympics in the South earlier that year. North Korea also sent its national women’s soccer team to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, which was the last time its female soccer players competed in the South.
Since 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has suspended meaningful diplomacy with Washington and Seoul and has pushed a domestic campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean culture and language among his population.
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