North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Club has arrived in South Korea for the AFC Women’s Champions League semi-final match. This is the first time in over 7 years that North Korean athletes have set foot on South Korean soil.
elchi reports that the 39-member delegation of the Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women’s Football Club landed at Incheon International Airport from Beijing.
Team players and coaching staff headed to their bus at the airport under media attention and security measures. Despite the “Welcome” slogans of pro-unification groups, the players’ silent and unemotional behavior was notable. The visit comes at a critical time in North-South relations.
Although North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has recently taken steps to further emphasize the separation between the two Koreas at the constitutional level, the Pyongyang administration is promoting new missile, warship, and submarine projects. Nevertheless, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung is trying to pursue a softer policy to reduce tensions between the two countries.
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