North Korean women’s football club headed to Seoul in rare trip across the border

North Korea’s Kim Kyong Yong during the 2026 Asian Football Confederation women’s cup match against China in Sydney. The side will play South Korea in Seoul later this month. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

A North Korean women’s football club will travel to South Korea this month, marking the first visit by a northern sports delegation in nearly eight years, at a time of near-total estrangement between the two Koreas.

Naegohyang Women’s FC, based in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang, will face South Korea’s Suwon FC Women at Suwon sports complex, on 20 May for the semi-finals of the AFC Women’s Champions League.