'We're here solely to play football,' insists North Korean coach

The coach of the first North Korean sports team to visit the South in eight years batted away questions Tuesday about the prospect of South Koreans cheering his side, saying: “We are here solely to play football.”

Naegohyang Women’s FC will face South Korea’s Suwon FC Women in the semi-finals of the Asian Women’s Champions League on Wednesday.

Interest in the rare North-South clash has been intense and 7,087 general admission tickets sold out within hours of going on sale last week.

Naegohyang’s arrival at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport on Sunday saw players and officials surrounded by throngs of reporters and supporters holding welcome signs.

Around 3,000 spectators from civic groups backed by Seoul’s unification ministry are expected to cheer both teams, but there will be no official away supporters because North Koreans are generally not allowed into the South.

Naegohyang head coach Ri Yu Il brushed off questions about what he thought about the prospect of South Koreans cheering his side during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.

“I’m not sure whether similar questions will continue to come up,” he said.

“But we are here solely to play football.

“Simply put, we will focus only on each match,” he added.

“Therefore, the issue of the supporters is not something I, as a coach, or our players need to concern ourselves with.

“We will concentrate exclusively on the game.”

No emotion

The Seoul government has provided US$200,000 to support South Korean civic groups planning to cheer both teams at the match.

According to local media, civic groups have been discussing cheering guidelines with the authorities, because waving North Korean national flags in public is prohibited under the national security law.

In past such events held in the South, civic groups instead waved flags depicting the Korean Peninsula.

Both Ri and the team captain, Kim Kyong Yong, sat through the press conference without showing any emotion, and their answers were translated by a North Korean interpreter.

Kim said: “We will give our all to repay the trust and expectations of our people and our parents and families.”

The winner of the semi-final will play either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza, also in Suwon, in Saturday’s final.

The two teams clashed in the group stage earlier in the competition, with Naegohyang winning 3-0, but the coach said that would count for little on Wednesday.

“Just because they played in the group stage, it would be absolutely wrong to say that one team is stronger or weaker than another based solely on those results,” Ri said.

“For us, our focus is simply on doing our best to achieve a good result in tomorrow’s match.”

Women’s football is one of North Korea’s strongest international sports, with  their national sides regularly competing at the highest levels in Asia and globally.

North Korea rank 11th in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking, far above their men’s team, which is ranked 118th.

The visit comes with Pyongyang being unresponsive to Seoul’s repeated unconditional dialogue proposals under President Lee Jae Myung, who has taken a much softer stance than his conservative predecessor.

The two Koreas are technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.