North Korea sends soccer players to South Korea
A North Korean women’s football team will travel to South Korea later this month to participate in a regional football tournament, marking the first visit by athletes from the North in eight years, the South Korean government said on Monday.
The North Korean team will play against South Korean opponents in Suwon, south of Seoul, in the women’s Asian Champions League semifinals to be held on May 20, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
The last time a women’s soccer delegation traveled to South Korea was in 2014 for the Asian Games in Incheon.
Sports exchanges have been stalled due to a deterioration in bilateral ties and the COVID-19 pandemic that prompted North Korea to seal its borders.
The two nations remain technically at war after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice.
