North Korean football club to make rare visit to South Korea

The North Korean women's football side is ranked among the strongest in the AFC (Getty)

A North Korean football club will make a rare venture to South Korea next month, the first time athletes from the north will have crossed the border since 2018.

Naegohyang Women’s FC - a club based in the North’s capital, Pyongyang - are scheduled to play South Korean side Suwon FC Women in the Asian Women’s Champions League semi-final on 20 May, according to an announcement by South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Monday.

Pyongyang has sent a list of 27 players and 12 staff who will attend, with the visit coming as South Korean ⁠President Lee Jae Myung seeks to improve ​strained ⁠ties with North Korea.

The ‌last time Pyongyang sent athletes to South Korea was in 2018, during a period of comparatively warmer relations. It participated in various competitions ‌and sent athletes to the Pyeongchang Winter ‌Olympics in 2018, forming a unified ice hockey team with South Korea for the first time.

A North Korean women’s football team last competed in the South at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

Ties have deteriorated in recent years. North Korea has labelled South Korea its “most hostile state” and said it wouldno longer seek reunification.

The North Korean delegation from Naegohyang Women’s FC will arrive in South Korea on 17 May, according to the ministry.

Two semi-final matches are scheduled in Suwon three days later, with the winner of the match between the North ​Korean club and Suwon to face Melbourne City or Tokyo Verdy ⁠in the final, also to be played in Suwon, on 23 May.

If North Korea ​loses in the semi-final, ‌the athletes will return home ​the next day, according to the ministry.