Of Course it’s Women Who Broke a Seven-Year Dry Spell Between North and South Korea

You might not have pegged North Korea’s Naegohyang players to be a soccer team when they first arrived in Incheon, South Korea, in their high heels and blazers, and carrying rollaboards plastered in pastel pink and green. But on Wednesday, they switched into their knee-high socks, orange cleats, and white-clad kit to defeat South Korea’s Suwon team 2-1, locking in their spot in the AFC (Asian Football Club) Champions League finals—and cementing recent history as the country’s first athletes in more than seven years to compete on southern soil. Women<3!

The last time a North Korean sports delegation competed in South Korea was in 2018, when two players from each country teamed up to play mixed doubles in an international table tennis tournament. (They won silver.) But things have changed since, and diplomatic channels between the two countries have mostly shut. 

Ahead of the match, Naegohyang’s coach, Ri Yu-il, made it explicitly clear that this was no ambassadorial ploy, and insisted to reporters that the team was only “focused on winning” and that they “came [there] strictly to play the match.” Still, hundreds of spectators filled the stands in an outsize turnout for a sport not typically that popular—and seemed especially eager about the North Korean team’s presence. Per Yonhap News Agency, Suwon’s head coach had never seen such a big crowd. 

And, well, I guess that’s exactly what happens when you’ve got a rainy-day game to quench the dry spell that is inter-Korean sports exchanges. 

North and South Korea used to regularly use sports as a diplomatic approach, sometimes even appearing together for opening ceremonies during the Olympics and Asian Games. This started petering out under North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, though, and with no thanks to Trump—who in 2019 helped frost ties between the two countries after pursuing a disastrous summit with Kim. Long story short… things have gotten awkward since. 

Speaking to the New York Times, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification said while “Naegohyang’s visit demonstrates that channels for inter-Korean contact,” it should not be “overestimated as a signal for a thaw in inter-Korean relations or the resumption of dialogue.”

Still, Lee Jae-myung—South Korea’s current president—is keen on defrosting said ties, and ahead of Wednesday’s game, told a coalition of organizations planning on cheering at the game that the government would support them. 

North Korea will now play in Saturday’s final against Tokyo Verdy Beleza, which will also be taking place in South Korea. 

Speaking to reporters after the match, Choe Kum-ok—a member of Naegohyang—told reporters they won because they “believed in [their] abilities.” “If we stick together as one, then we shouldn’t have any problem in the final.” Now… are we still talking about football?