![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/915012ef-60ad-42f0-bffa-3f751fd7075d.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A spectator at the Suwon Sports Complex waves a flag bearing the emblem of North Korea\u2019s Naegohyang Women\u2019s Football Club during the team\u2019s semifinal match against South Korea’s Suwon FC Women, Wednesday. Courtesy of NK News<\/p>\n
Choi Seon-hee sat in the pouring rain at the Suwon Sports Complex on a cold Wednesday evening, watching something that hadn\u2019t happened in South Korea in nearly eight years: a North Korean sports team competing for a trophy on the South\u2019s soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still one people. We are compatriots,\u201d Choi, a woman in her 50s who travelled from Ansan city, told NK News at the stadium about 20 miles south of Seoul.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to leave with that kind of warm feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi was one of roughly 5,760 spectators who gathered at the stadium as Suwon FC Women hosted the Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women\u2019s Football Club in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women\u2019s Champions League semifinals \u2014 the first inter-Korean women\u2019s club soccer match held in the South.<\/p>\n
At the half-filled stadium, the visiting team won 2-1 in a match that prompted speculation over whether soccer could become an alternate channel for inter-Korean contact, despite deepening political tensions.<\/p>\n
Naegohyang\u2019s captain Kim Kyong-yong pounced on Suwon\u2019s defensive error in the second half to score the winning header, sending her team to Saturday\u2019s final against Japan\u2019s Tokyo Verdy Beleza for the continental title.<\/p>\n
But for many in the stands, the score was beside the point.<\/p>\n
The roofless stadium drew a diverse crowd: South Korean families, North Korean defectors, unification-focused civic groups and foreign media. <\/p>\n
About 3,000 of those in attendance were organized through the \u201c2026 AFC-AWCL Women\u2019s Football Joint Cheering Squad\u201d of more than 200 civic and inter-Korean exchange groups \u2014 including the Council for North-South Cooperation of Civic Organizations, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, and the Hankyoreh Unification Culture Foundation.<\/p>\n
The squad\u2019s stated aim, according to the cheer squad\u2019s organizers, was to cheer for both teams \u201cregardless of the outcome\u201d in a way that embodied \u201cthe two great spirits of sport \u2014 fair play and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The South Korean government allocated 300 million won ($215,000) from its inter-Korean exchange and cooperation fund to support the civic groups, covering costs such as ticket purchases and cheering supplies. Officials reportedly advised supporters to avoid using state names during chants, given sensitivities surrounding inter-Korean terminology and the game\u2019s status as a club competition.<\/p>\n
![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a4df4902-ebeb-409a-b303-9dbdb2af86e2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Supporters cheer for South Korea’s Suwon FC Women during a match versus North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s FC at the Suwon Sports Complex, Wednesday. Captured from Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young’s X account<\/p>\n
Chanting for both sides? <\/p>\n
With little shelter from the rain, most of the spectators cheered in ponchos or beneath umbrellas. A joint cheering squad waved Naegohyang flags in one hand and Suwon FC flags in the other as they alternated chants for both teams.<\/p>\n
Naegohyang translates to \u201cmy hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n
For inter-Korean peace activist Jeong Wook-shik, founder of the NGO Peace Network, the significance of the match was in the small interactions between players.<\/p>\n
Jeong contrasted Wednesday\u2019s game with tensions seen during the recent AFC U-17 Women\u2019s Asian Cup, where North Korean players greeted the referees after matches against South Korea and Japan, but walked past the opposing players without acknowledgement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time, they high-fived, the two captains shook hands, and during the match you could see players helping opponents up after fouls,\u201d Jeong said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a long road ahead, but compared to the U-17 tournament, this felt much friendlier and I think that deserves recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Jeong acknowledged that the warm reception for Naegohyang may have come at the expense of the support for the home team. <\/p>\n
Prior to the game, organizers said supporters should cheer using team names and player names only, to fit AFC guidelines banning political and religious expressions inside stadiums. Planned slogans from the squad included \u201cGo Suwon,\u201d \u201cStay strong Naegohyang,\u201d and \u201cBeyond Victory,\u201d with banners welcoming the North Korean club and expressing support for Suwon FC Women.<\/p>\n
NK News observed Jeong and others in the squad cheering for both teams throughout the match. <\/p>\n
Suwon FC Women manager Park Gil-young appeared to echo some of that frustration when asked about the crowd\u2019s support for the North Korean team during a post-match press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a South Korean football team,\u201d Park said. \u201cTo be honest, there were many moments during the match that upset me. It weighed on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a match we really needed to win for the development of women\u2019s football here,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve had this many spectators, the first time this many reporters have come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeong later expressed sympathy for the home side\u2019s reaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Suwon FC\u2019s players, coaches and supporters, it may have felt hurtful,\u201d he said. \u201cWe tried to cheer equally for both sides, but if certain chants or remarks from the cheering squad upset the players, then I want to express my regret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the stands, Kim Kyung-sung, the chairman of the civic Inter-Korean Sports Exchange Association, stood with an independently organized group of more than 30 affiliates of the association. <\/p>\n
They wore scarves reading \u201cSee You Again in Wonsan \u2014 Ari Sports Cup,\u201d a nod to Kim\u2019s two decades of cross-border sports exchanges.<\/p>\n
The Ari Sports Cup \u2014 a youth soccer tournament composed of U-15 teams from both Koreas and other countries organized by Kim \u2014 was held alternately in Seoul, Pyongyang and Gangwon Province starting in 2014 before being indefinitely suspended amid the prolonged freeze in inter-Korean relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pouring rain, and still about half the seats were filled,\u201d Kim said of Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cFor a women\u2019s soccer match on a night like this, you\u2019d normally expect maybe 100 or 200 people. The turnout shows how much public interest there is when North Korean players come to the South.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim said Suwon had the edge during the first half, with the North Korean side struggling to string passes together as they adjusted to the pitch conditions. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut in the second half, once they adapted, their attacking game came alive,\u201d he said of the North Korean team. \u201c[Suwon\u2019s] penalty miss was heartbreaking. But at the end, both sides applauded each other, and looking at it all, this was a wonderful match. A real spectacle after so long apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Kim praised the general atmosphere of the game, he also voiced concern that some of the chants from the joint cheering squad drifted into political themes, such as \u201cwe are one,\u201d which he said contradicts Pyongyang\u2019s \u201ctwo-state\u201d position of the two Koreas.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Korea insists these are two separate states. Their coach has even said he won\u2019t respond unless people properly call the country \u2018Joson,\u2019\u201d Kim said. \u201cThe cheering should reflect that reality and focus on the teams themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim said his deeper concern centered on the government\u2019s role in supporting the cheering effort. Voluntary support for Naegohyang was not problematic in of itself, he said, but government funding of the groups risked the impression that authorities were steering support toward the visiting side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political divide in [South Korean] society is as serious as the inter-Korean divide,\u201d Kim said. \u201cIf North Korean players come down here and it ends up deepening that internal rift, it does absolutely nothing to help inter-Korean exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHome advantage means the crowd is overwhelmingly behind you, but last night\u2019s Suwon supporters were outnumbered and struggled to make themselves heard,\u201d Kim said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it had happened spontaneously, nobody could call it divisive. But when government funding is involved and it starts to resemble an organized Naegohyang fan club, that\u2019s where I become concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f87ed38d-ed59-4217-9dc3-4f34243aaa0e.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Members of North Korea’s team and their coach Ji Yun-nam, left, who won the 2026 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup in China, are welcomed after their arrival at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, May 19. AFP-Yonhap<\/p>\n
Match in a political minefield <\/p>\n
The semifinal unfolded against the backdrop of one of the lowest points in inter-Korean relations in years. North Korea has virtually cut off all contact with the South since abandoning the goal of reunification in Dec. 2023, and has since purportedly codified its \u201ctwo-state\u201d position in its constitution.<\/p>\n
South Korean Culture and Sports Minister Chae Hwi-young attended the match alongside Korean Sport and Olympic Committee President Yoo Seung-min, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and other ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers. <\/p>\n
Following the game, Chae described the result as \u201cdeeply disappointing\u201d for Suwon FC Women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI send my warmest applause to the Suwon FC Women players, who maintained their focus and dominated play despite the heavy downpour,\u201d Chae wrote on social media, while also congratulating the visiting side.<\/p>\n
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Seoul\u2019s top official on inter-Korean affairs, did not attend Wednesday\u2019s match. South Korea\u2019s engagement-minded government has been cautious about assigning broader political significance to the event and has been mindful of the political sensitivities surrounding the match.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the National Assembly early Wednesday, Chung said the AFC had sent a letter requesting that the match be conducted \u201cas a purely sporting international event, separated from the political situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chung said his goal was to \u201cleave a good precedent\u201d and portrayed the joint cheering effort as a modest step toward rebuilding trust between the two Koreas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that civic groups voluntarily came forward to cheer for both teams will itself become a meaningful precedent after eight years of frozen and completely severed inter-Korean relations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to build trust, step by step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the government\u2019s allocation of 300 million won for the cheering initiative drew sharp criticism from the opposition People Power Party, whose leader accused the administration of \u201cfattening pro-North groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chung dismissed the criticism as \u201coutdated ideological labeling\u201d and pledged to disclose all spending records. He noted that the conservative administrations of former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye also had used inter-Korean cooperation funds to support nonpolitical exchanges.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s funding of the cheering squad had a clear legal basis under South Korea\u2019s Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, said Choi Eun-a, the secretary-general of the Autonomous Peace Unification Solidarity, one of the civic groups involved Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Choi told NK News that criticism of the initiative was politically motivated and pointed to a history of sports exchanges that served as a bridge between adversarial states.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Olympics and international sporting events have repeatedly helped broaden mutual understanding and served as stepping stones toward improved relations, both internationally and domestically,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo call that political is, in itself, already a political act.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Players](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3ae61deb-89fe-4beb-9ab5-5aa38813e876.png\")
<\/p>\n
Players from Naegohyang Women’s FC and Suwon FC Women position themselves before a sideline throw-in during the match at Suwon Sports Complex, Wednesday. Courtesy of NK News<\/p>\n
On with the show <\/p>\n
Civic groups said they planned to return to Suwon Sports Complex on Saturday, when Naegohyang faces off against Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the final.<\/p>\n
Jeong said Wednesday\u2019s match showed Pyongyang\u2019s efforts to sever its ties with Seoul had practical limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how much they say they want to cut us off, this shows that it simply can\u2019t be done,\u201d he said, adding that the crowd had shown \u201ca genuine sense of fellow-Korean solidarity and kinship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a first-of-its-kind event held in South Korea \u2014 under conditions where the other side insists on a two-state framework and we maintain the position of a special relationship \u2014 the first button was fastened relatively well,\u201d Jeong said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom our side, in civil society, the plan is to keep the critical voices in mind and keep stitching, one stitch at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
For other spectators, the feeling was more straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they get a good feel of South Korea before they go,\u201d Kang Su-hyeon, a Seoul-based woman in her 30s, told NK News. <\/p>\n
Choi, the spectator from Ansan who said she hoped the North Korean side would feel the warmth of shared kinship, said she was unmoved by the backlash from critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this becomes an occasion for the North and South to come together,\u201d Choi said. \u201cAnd I hope the team from the North felt that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n