North Korea News Podcast by NK News - North Korean club soccer team wins AFC title during rare trip to the South

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

This week, NK News Correspondent Jooheon Kim joins the podcast to discuss a North Korean soccer team’s rare trip to the South. The Naegohyang Women’s Football Club made the journey for the AFC Women’s Champions League semifinals, marking the first visit by a DPRK sports delegation in nearly eight years and the first by a […]

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Early-Byr tickets are now open with discount for NK Pro and NK News members. Space is limited to just 80 paying guests, so claim your seat. claim your seat soon. Welcome back to the NK News podcast. Today is Monday, May 25th, and we are recording in our studio in Seoul. This week we're talking about a really rare inter-Korean sporting moment

that put football, politics and sanctions all on the same pitch. North Korea's Nagohyang women's football team traveled to South Korea for the AFC Women's Champions League semifinals, the first visit by a North Korean sports delegation to the South in early eight years,

and the first by a North Korean football team, in 12 years. The match drew thousands of spectators in terrible heavy rain, including our very own Juhang Kim, who's joining me today to unpack it all. Hi, Jujan. Thanks for having me. So let's go back to the very beginning. I'll start with the team's arrival. Niko Yukang landed in Chan International Airport on Sunday the 17th with 27 players, 12 coaching staff. They were greeted by reporters and civic groups. You were one of those reporters there at the airport. Why was Niko Yang's arrival in South Korea so significant? As you mentioned, so this is their first time to visit Seoul in eight years.

I think it was 2018 when the table tennis team came over to Seoul, and it's been 12 years since 2014 Asian Games. And also, this is after Kim Jong-in, the North Korean leader, declared that South and South and North Korea are two separate hostile states, but they still sent a soccer team to Suwon, or South Korean city. so I think it's still very meaningful. Right, absolutely. And what was the atmosphere like at the airport?

A lot of reporters were shot. There were more than, yes, 70 reporters, both from the local and foreign media. And a lot of them were asking, we were just shouting, asking them, hey, how do you feel about here? Please tell us about your strategy. But none of them are questions

and they just got on the bus within 10 minutes. If listeners haven't seen those videos that right, came out of their arrivals, are very stoic, looking straight ahead. I don't think they made eye contact with anybody. No facial expression at all. Right, right. Take a listen to some footage shot by the NKNE News team

at Incheon International Airport as the Nagohyang team arrived. And as well as reporters, there were these civic groups cheering for the team. Do they interact with those groups at all? Yeah, they were cheering for the North Korean team, but obviously they were not really responding. The cheering groups were sponsored by the Iraq government, the unification ministry. They are going to get a little bit more about those cheering

groups in a minute, but I also want to ask you about the exception that the unification ministry had to make to allow this team to enter South Korea. How's a bit more about that? So the unification minister had to approve the Nego Yang team to come over to South Korea, and they were using their passports, according to rock media. And technically, because North Korea is part of the South Korean territory under the Iraq constitution, I thought they could just come in as South Korean national citizens as well, but they were using their passport this time. I think that kind of reflects the two-state theory that Kim Jong-un mentioned. And the unification minister, Chong Dongyang, also previously stated that he respects the North Korean regime.

So probably, yeah, that indicates that both Chong and Kim, they're recognizing the two Koreas at separate states. So they had to get that special permission to come to Korea. And again, as you said, this comes at a time when North Korea has said again and again it has no interest in any kind of dialogue with South Korea. So it is quite significant in that sense. Let's talk about those cheering groups again. Seoul actually funded those cheering groups to support the North Korean team, obviously because no North Korean supporters could come.

Tell us what we know about that. So sponsoring, basically. It was about 300 million Korean ones, so I guess that's about 200,000. US dollar to support both the South Korea, Suwan FC and Daegoyang team. Yeah, I think it's related to the Li Jemian administration's engagement policy toward North Korea instead of provoking the regime like the Yun-Sung-Yur. Again, highlighting how he is trying to maybe use this as an opportunity, like you said, to engage.

Before the semifinal, Nehoyang's head coach and captain also appeared before reporters in Suon, And this was obviously a really rare opportunity for foreign media to ask questions directly to members of a North Korean sports team. What did the head coach, Ryuil, say, and how carefully did he handle questions? I think the most interesting question from reporters was when someone asked, how do you feel about 3,000, about 3,000 cheering groups supporting you guys. And the head coach did not really answer. He said, they're just here to a focus on the match. and cheering groups are not something his team should consider. And he refused a lot of questions, something like that,

and mostly talked about the soccer matches and their strategies, et cetera. So probably no surprises there, very carefully crafted answers. And did anything stand out to you from that press conference? Anything. I think it was after they defeated the Japanese team. So it was a few days ago. And the head coach was a little. offended by one of the questions from a South Korean reporter because he he didn't refer

he didn't call the DPRK by its official name he called it the northern side he didn't ask anything provocative but just because of that the terminology he refused to answer that question and yeah they just left the press conference spot okay so a little bit of context for listeners this is a subsequent press conference because of course North Korea beat the Japanese side in that final on Saturday. So we will move on now

to the game against Suon FC. Fortunately, the weather was not ideal. Everybody got absolutely drenched. I felt so bad for you guys having to cover it. And I felt bad for the players and the fans too because nobody wants to watch a football match in that kind of rain.

But walk us through the match, how did Nagoyang win it? How they wanted? So I think they were very stable in terms of both defense and attack. I'm not really a soccer expert. But they seem very stable overall. And I think the captain, Kim Jong-young, I think she scored in both semifinals and finals,

and she became the MVP for this year's AFC. Yeah, she did really well. I think overall they just moved, the North Korean Army, I would describe. And the final score was 2-1, right? So I think going in- Against Suan. Yeah. So going into, I know that the North Korean teams were the favorite, but it sounded like it was a much more exciting match probably than people anticipated.

More than any standout players? I would say Kim Jong. Yeah, she was basically leading entire team. What does Nico Yang's performance tell us about the strength of North Korean women's football? I have talked to some sports experts about this. They, yeah, they all move together, just like the North Korean military does. And if they lose the ball, they would all, they have their own strategy to handle that kind of situations. So very, I can't really describe it exactly, but it seemed like a very military-wise type of. Interesting. And so, of course, on the pitch, it was a football match, but off the pitch, something a bit more complicated.

More than 5,700 spectators still came to Sioux Sports Complex despite the terrible weather. About 3,000 were part of that joint cheering squad that we talked about, organized by civic and inter-Korean exchange groups with support from the Unification Ministry. June, what was the atmosphere like in the stadium? So it was raining a lot, but we were not, we couldn't really use an umbrella because if we hold the umbrella, like it could hurt other spectators. So we were not a lot to use it. We just had to get our raincoat, so it was freezing that night, obviously. Yeah. But a lot of the South Korean spectators and a lot of international, like foreign spectators too, they were training for Negoiang. And I haven't seen that many a Suwan FC event.

There were some, but I think it was mostly, yeah, I heard a lot of Negoiang from the audience. Okay, interesting. So a real mix of foreign fans, South Korean fans, but you felt like it was mostly they were cheering for the North Korean side. Yeah, because I was sitting with the inter-Korean athletic. the sports association, which they claimed to host a lot of youth sports events with the North Korean side before when the relations were relatively okay. Yeah, so they're pursuing inter-Korean dialogue exchanges. So we'll see. How do those cheering teams work in practice?

I know that you mentioned that they were funded to cheer for both sides, but were they cheering mostly for the North Korean side, for the South Korean side? How did that work? They're supposed to, like when the Unification Ministry released the statements, they were basically, they were not just supporting the North Korean team. It's just a joint, and it's just joint sharing group. They can also support Suon FC, but since a lot of them pursue engagements with the DPRK side, I think they were just sharing for Nego-Hang. And what kind of cheers? What kind of chance did you hear? Just shouting Nego-Hang or, yeah, mostly.

I don't know how North Koreans cheer for their own team. I think it's like Joseon Egiura, which means victory for Joseon, DPR. Here's a clip from the match in Suwon where you can hear the cheering crowds. Do you think any of the North Korean players notice the cheering squads or notice any of the fans or engaged or heard any of that cheering? I couldn't really tell if they were paying attention to us to the crowds at all. And, like I said, during the press conferences, the head coach kept saying, we were just trying to focus on soccer matches. So probably even if they were able to hear those cheering, their goal was, of course, playing football.

Also, there's another interesting moment from the press conference. So the Suwan FC's captain, she described the North Korean team. And June, sorry, this is the press conference before the match. She described it as very violent, very tough, and they also swear a lot. And I think the head coach responded to that. He said he didn't really like the expression, the tough. Yeah. The tough.

So the captain was saying going into this match, this is our playing style. We're really tough. We swear on the pitch. And then the head coach. Yeah. So he mentioned that after the press conference with Suan FC, it was another separate press conference. But the South Korean reporter was asking, I think the match against Japan would be very, very tough. How do you feel about that? And he did say, I don't think the word tough is a right

expression. And then he kept going, but I think that was very interesting. Interesting. Yeah, absolutely. Did you talk to anyone in the stands? Do you talk to anyone to fans? What did you hear from people that were there? I talked to one of the, one of the spectators from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. So this was before North Creek, the PRK was established. He says he felt like he's meeting people from his hometown. So he was there and he really supported Leijemian administration. I think he's very progressive. Yes, his subramash could contribute to the inter-Korean dialogue.

Well, it sounds like for many people there, the score was almost secondary to the fact that, of course, the North Korean team was playing in South Korea at all. It was a historic moment. But the cheering that we've just described also became quite controversial. I'll just reiterate, the South Korean government allocated about 300 million won, about $215,000 US dollars from the inter-Korean exchange.

Fund to support the civic groups that were organizing these cheering squads. This did draw some criticism from the opposition, and even some people supportive of sports exchanges questioned whether the crowd atmosphere was fair to sue on FC. Why did the government fund cheering groups for this match? And what did the Unification Ministry say it was hoping to achieve by doing this? Unification Minister, Chong Dongyang, which wrote in his Facebook post that this could be a small, this could create a small chance to improve the relations with North Korea. So I think, yeah, like since Yijemong took office, I think they were always putting a lot of

emphasis on dialogue and talks. So I think that was their motive. That was one of their main reasons to sponsor those sharing groups. But also at the same time, the North Korean side was not really responding to us. So there's a lot of criticism, skeptics saying, yeah, what's the meaning of those, yeah, funds? So from the government's perspective, this was a chance and a really rare chance to try and engage with North Korea. What did the opposition politicians criticize exactly? What were they saying is wrong with this one thing? Why would you, why would you support the enemy state? The gist of it. Now, some critics, of course, had the cheering made Suon feel the away team

in its own stadium. And it's interesting from what we've discussed so far, Jihon, sounds like that, yeah, most of the cheering was for the North Korean side. Do you think that was a fair criticism? I think it's, I mean, South Korea is a free country, right? Democracy, freedom of expression are guaranteed. So I think it's okay to support whatever team you want, whichever team you want. But considering like North Korea is still working on nuclear missile programs, I understand where the opposition is coming from. It's very complicated. it. Yeah. And yeah, just as politics. Yes. Yeah, there's so many layers to it. Now, this match fits into a much longer history of women's football between the two Koreas and it's a

rivalry. North Korea has largely dominated. South Korea has won only one of 19 senior women's matches against the North since 1990 while the DPRK has been especially strong at the youth level. And I mean, it's fair to say North Koreans women's soccer, it's renowned, especially at the youth group, they're winning left, right, and then center. Why are North Korea so strong in women's football? So I think one of the, I'm not sure if he's a coach, but one of the staff members, Mr. Huan, director, I think. He, according to one of the South Korean experts,

he found it, he didn't really found it, but he was training those North Korean women's soccer players for over 10 years, so since they were very young. and they were all trained together since then. So I think they really focus on the female team. Right, like a lot of sports in North Korea, I think that the goal is finding athletes young and training them from that very young age.

How important is women's football to North Korea's international image? AFC, FIFA, I think they're trying to make a very good impression of themselves through women's soccer teams, which they're really good at. Yes, right? Yeah. Yeah, and of course there's always the propaganda aspect of this too. Anytime they ever win, North Korea can use it in their state media. We report on it all the time and they highlight how well the women's team does.

And even I believe I think it was last year I'll have to double check. But Kim Jong-un met the female players who won, I think it was the AFC under 20s, but I will double-check that. Fact check. North Korea did celebrate its under-20 women's World Cup win at the highest level in late 2024. State media reported that Kim Jong-un met the team at the Workers' Party headquarters after their tournament victory, calling it a patriotic achievement that brought joy to the country. He also praised standout player Che Il-son, who won both the Golden Bowl as the tournament's best player

and the Golden Boot as top scorer as well as coach Resung Ho. The cabinet later hosted a banquet for them with Premier Kim Tukhan delivering remarks. Nego Yang, they beat Siwan-212. on to play this Japanese team in the final. They beat them as well. So they won the AFC Champions League. The AFC Women's Champion League winner receives a million dollars. This is creating a big sanctions question because a North Korean team has won that million dollars. Why could AFC prize money for Nye Goheng raise this sanctions concern? The UN Security Councils, according to their sanctions, international organizations

are not supposed to pay the North Korean side because they could use it for nuclear and missile programs. So, yeah, giving them money could cause another issue. What do UN sanctions say about North Koreans earning income abroad? There's one of the sanctions, it states that North Koreans working overseas, they need to return to their home country by 2019. But I'm not sure if, the sports events falls under, yeah, if this is considered one of the labor, yeah, overseas labor as well.

But that's why it's getting very tricky. But if the North Korean Naguoyang's team is related to the North Korean military, if anyone can prove that, yeah, that could be against sanctions as well. Exactly. I think that a lot of the issues that arise at sanction is there is so much gray area, right? Does this constitute as overseas workers? How do we categorize this? What do we know about Neko Yang's possible links to North Korea's military or state-linked business networks? It's organized by one of the North Korean conglomerates.

I'm correct. And there could be a link, but no one has really approved this yet. Okay. And has the AFC commented on how it would handle this? I have reached out to AFC, but they have not responded yet. Okay, so nothing concrete. Great. What precedent could this set for future North Korean participation in international sports competition? I think this is just my take. I think they can hold funds and then they can probably use them for expenses for next benches.

Okay. Okay. So one way to kind of pay out the prize money without potentially violating sessions. Right. Just to make sure they are using it for sports events. As I mentioned, Niko-Hung did win that semi-final. They went on to win the final on Saturday. They defeated Japan, Tokyo, Verdi. Belizea 1-0 in Sioux on again to win the ASC women's Champions League title, raising not only sporting headlines, but also the sanctions questions over the tournament's $1 million prize. Jujan, walk us through that final. How did Naguoyang beat Tokyo Verdi Belizea? I think it was 1-0 of the Nego-Yang team. I think Kim Jong-yong, the captain, scored there again. And yeah, she was, she became the MVP.

MVP, yeah, well-deserved. You mentioned that there was a number of. interesting press conference before that match and the head coach had something interesting to say. So the question from a South Korean reporter was the match against the Tokyo team would be very tough. Just South Korea, the South Korean team playing against Japanese because of the historical issues. Korea was colonized by Japan for about 36 years. So I guess he was trying to find something in common. We were both colonized by the Japanese imperialism, but he didn't really like the term. He didn't fully understand the question because the reporter used a South Korean expression,

which is Hanye. I know in English, we just use Korea for both North and South Korea, but in the South Korean language, Korea is Hanuk, and so in North Korea, it's Joseon, which is the old dynasty of Korea. But Kim Jong-un, North Korea, started using the word Hanguk very recently after the two states theory. But I think the head coach was still not familiar with the words, Hanuk.

So I guess it would make sense for him to say Namjo-Zo-Zon versus Yibon, which is South Korea, they're still used to Namjo-Song, South, Zhong-Song, South Korea. So that was very, and then he was asking the report, what does that, what does Han-Jel-Jon mean, sir? Yeah, so that I think overall we could understand the North Korean sides, but I would say that's a tiny bit of language period between the two.

And if the two Koreas are separated more than like 100 years, even more than that, then I think the linguistic gap could get wider as well. Yeah, it's really interesting. Well, bigger picture, does Nengu Yang's title make future inter-Korean sporting changes more likely? Or do you think that this was basically just a one-off? Because they were not showing any reaction, we can't really expect this to improve or improve events between the Koreas. But it's obvious that North Korea is also interested in international sporting events, sports events, and especially soccer. So if something like this happens again, I think there would be a rematch between the two.

Do you have one final question? So you covered the airport arrival. the press conference, the match, the crowd response. What was one moment that you think best captured the meaning of this visit for you? At the airport. They were not really answering without any facial expression. But when I watch their training through YouTube, they were smiling. They were just acting like normal human beings.

So there was a little bit ironic. I thought they didn't have any emotion when I first saw them at the airport. But I don't really know. If international events like this becomes more common and if there's more opportunities for the South Korean side to interact with them, then probably there could be some type of interaction. That was Jo Young Kim. Speaking about Nago Young women's FC's rare visit to South Korea and the complicated mix of football, politics and sanctions surrounding the match. You can read the full coverage at NK News. And of course, I'm going to link all the articles in the episode's show notes.

Thanks so much for joining me today, Jiuyan. Thanks for having me. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. Our thanks to Brian Betts and David Choi for helping make this podcast happen. For more reporting, analysis and expert insight on North Korea, visit NK News for the latest stories and NKPro for deeper analysis, data and research tools. You can also watch this episode on YouTube and be sure to follow us on social media. for the latest updates, clips and behind the scenes content.

I'm Alana Hill. Thank you for listening. And we'll be back next time with more on the stories shaping NUCE Korea.