North Korean women’s football team arrives in Incheon

“Welcome to the Naegohyang women’s football team.”

North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Team arrived at Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1 arrival hall at around 2:52 p.m. on Sunday, where about 40 people from civic groups, including the Solidarity for Self-Reliant Reunification and Peace and the Incheon Association for North Korean Defectors, gathered to greet the delegation.

The players and staff offered no response. The 35-member delegation, consisting of 12 staff and 23 players, passed through the terminal with stiff expressions, looking straight ahead and ignoring questions from reporters, including requests for comment on their return to South Korea after a long absence.

According to submitted Asian Football Confederation documents, the delegation was originally listed at 39 members, including four reserve players, but only 35 ultimately arrived in South Korea. All members wore matching dark navy suits. On the left side of each jacket was a portrait pin featuring former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and former leader Kim Jong Il. The group then boarded a waiting bus and traveled directly to its hotel in Suwon.

The trip marks the first visit by a North Korean sports delegation to South Korea in seven years and five months, dating back to the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Grand Finals in Incheon in December 2018. It is also the first visit by a North Korean women’s football team since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, 12 years ago.

The Naegohyang Women’s Football Team is set to face Suwon FC Women on May 20 at Suwon World Cup Stadium in the semifinal of the AFC Women’s Champions League. A win would send the team into the final on May 23 against the winner of Melbourne City (Australia) and Tokyo Verdy (Japan).

The squad is sponsored by Naegohyang, a North Korean state-run tobacco and food company, and is led by Ri Yu Il, a former coach of the North Korean women’s national team. It includes players who helped North Korea win titles at the 2024 FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups.

The team previously beat Suwon FC Women 3-0 in the qualifying round held in Yangon, Myanmar, in November 2025 and is regarded as one of the tournament’s leading contenders.

Despite the high-profile return to South Korea after more than seven years, the delegation is expected to maintain a low profile outside official matches and events. The team had initially been scheduled to share a hotel with Suwon FC Women, its semifinal opponent, but the Asian Football Confederation arranged separate accommodations. North Korea is also reported to have requested the change.

On May 19, a day before the semifinal, all four semifinalists, including the Naegohyang Women’s Football Team, are scheduled to hold official training sessions and a joint news conference.


Oh-Hyuk Kwon hyuk@donga.com