Photo: Naegohyang FC celebrates victory. Credit: News1.
On May 23, North Korea’s Naegohyang 내고향 won the AFC Women’s Champions League, defeating Tokyo Verdy Beleza 1-0 in a match held in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do Province 경기도 수원. Kim Kyong Yong 김경영, the captain of the North Korean side, scored the winning goal at the 44-minute mark.
Naegohyang was the first visit to South Korea by North Korean athletes since the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics 평창 동계올림픽. The 2.7k crowd members in attendance at the stadium, mostly South Korean fans of the local Suwon FC Women soccer team, cheered on the Naegohyang athletes.
In a break with the established protocol of using visitation permits issued by South Korea’s Unification Ministry 통일부, the North Korean soccer players presented their passports to enter and exit South Korea, in keeping with Pyongyang 평양’s recent announcement that North Korea will exist as a separate country and will no longer pursue unification.
Because of international sanctions, the team will not receive the USD 1m prize; instead, the money will be held by the Asian Football Confederation to be used for North Korea’s future participation in international events.
