South Koreans gear up to roar on football team from rival North

Hundreds of South Koreans will cheer for a North Korean women’s football team when it makes a rare trip across the border for a continental semi-final this month, civic groups told AFP on Friday.

North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s FC will play the South’s Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the Asian Champions League.

It will be the first time that a North Korean sports team has played in the South since 2018.

The countries technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

South Korean civic organisations are rallying groups of volunteers to roar on Naegohyang, with one predicting that more than 1,000 may end up backing the North Koreans at the match in Suwon city.

The groups support reconciliation between North and South Korea and often organise activities to promote their cause.

There will be no away fans because North Koreans cannot enter the South.

The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) told AFP that it had already enlisted about 300 people.

“At a time when inter-Korean relations are severe, news of Naegohyang’s visit brings us hope that it will serve as an opportunity to rekindle the fading flame of peace,” the KCRC said.

The Korean Sharing Movement said it recruited 100 within an hour of posting an announcement on Wednesday, while the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture claimed around 60.

However, South Korean laws and political sensitivities make it uncertain how exactly the fans should hail their adopted heroes.

Under South Korean national security laws, it is illegal to own or brandish the North Korean flag or play its national anthem in public spaces.

The use of the Korean unification flag — a blue outline of the entire peninsula on a white background — may also be restricted under Asian Football Confederation rules banning political expression in stadiums.

An official at South Korea’s unification ministry told reporters this month that club flags, not national ones, would be displayed during the match, and national anthems would not be played.

The winner of the semi-final will advance to the final of Asia’s top women’s club competition in Suwon on May 23, against either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza.