*AFC Women’s Champions League semifinal match between Naegohyang Women’s FC and Suwon FC Women is underway. ⓒ Il Young Jeong
Il Young Jeong
Senior Research Fellow_Institute of Social Science_Sogang University
This is the story of the AFC Women’s Champions League, which electrified fans at Suwon Sports Complex in May. The tournament, which generated unprecedented sellout crowds, passionate support, and numerous talking points for a women’s football competition, concluded with Naegohyang Women’s FC lifting the trophy.
This column seeks to take a calm and measured look at what Naegohyang Women’s FC’s visit to South Korea has left behind. Now that some of the excitement has subsided, it is worth reflecting on the significance of a visit that was as controversial as it was remarkable.
An Unanticipated Trip to South Korea
At the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in February, North Korea reaffirmed that inter-Korean relations should be defined as those between “two hostile states.” This position was subsequently institutionalized through the Supreme People’s Assembly in late March. By adding a territorial clause to its constitution, Pyongyang effectively designated the boundary between North and South Korea as an international border.
Against the backdrop of frozen inter-Korean relations, news emerged that Naegohyang Women’s FC had advanced to the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Champions League, which were to be held in Suwon. The result was a semifinal matchup between Naegohyang and Suwon FC Women.
Once Suwon was confirmed as the host city and the matchup was set, speculation grew that Naegohyang might actually travel to South Korea. Yet many observers believed such a visit was unlikely. With inter-Korean relations at a standstill and North Korea insisting on the framework of “two hostile states,” the prospect of a North Korean club crossing the border seemed remote.
Indeed, it appeared contradictory for a country that had formally declared South Korea a hostile state to send one of its football teams there. Nevertheless, Naegohyang chose to make the trip.
The visit generated numerous controversies and headlines before, during, and after the matches. Yet the most important question lies in the visit itself: Why did Naegohyang Women’s FC come to South Korea?
Naegohyang and the New Conditions for Inter-Korean Exchange
Why did Naegohyang come to South Korea? In some ways, it seems like a naïve question. The AFC Women’s Champions League runs over a nine-month period, beginning with the playoffs and group stage in August 2025 and culminating in the semifinals and final in May 2026. For Naegohyang Women’s FC, which entered the competition from the playoff stage, participating in the semifinals was the natural and expected course of action.
Yet given that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has characterized inter-Korean relations as those between two “hostile” states that remain in a state of conflict, while rejecting the notion of a shared national identity and effectively removing reunification from the agenda, many considered it more realistic to assume that Pyongyang would not send a team to what it now describes as a hostile country.
Nevertheless, Naegohyang Women’s FC set foot on South Korean soil. So what changed? Or perhaps a better question is: what have we misunderstood?
The answer is that North Korea’s concept of “two hostile states” does not necessarily imply a complete severance of all forms of interaction.
In particular, the visit demonstrated that Pyongyang sees no reason to reject inter-Korean contact in non-political fields, especially when such engagement takes place within the framework of international relations and international competitions. If circumstances require it, North Korean participants can even travel to South Korea. Sport proved to be the field most compatible with these two conditions: it is both non-political in nature and embedded within an international competitive framework.
One additional condition, however, is crucial: the leading role of civil society.
At a time when dialogue between the authorities of North and South Korea has effectively ceased, the role of non-governmental actors becomes especially important. Under such circumstances, the most constructive role for governments may be not to lead exchanges directly, but rather to facilitate and support initiatives driven by civilian actors.
Challenges to Be Addressed for Peaceful Coexistence on the Korean Peninsula
The administration of President Lee Jae-myung is pursuing a policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula. The idea is that, given the deep mistrust between the two Koreas and their continued perception of one another as security threats, it is more prudent to maintain a certain degree of distance and promote peaceful coexistence rather than rushing into large-scale exchanges and cooperation.
Public opinion in South Korea largely reflects this approach. According to a public opinion survey commissioned by the Ministry of Unification and conducted by Gallup Korea (December 2025), 79.4 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “it is more important for North and South Korea to coexist peacefully without war than to achieve reunification,” while only 19.4 percent disagreed. Similarly, the Korea Institute for National Unification’s 2025 Survey on Unification Perceptions found that 67.2 percent of respondents supported sports exchanges between the two Koreas, compared with 13.3 percent who opposed them.
Nevertheless, significant challenges remain. As demonstrated by Naegohyang Women’s FC’s visit to South Korea, inter-Korean sporting encounters continue to be highly sensitive. No matter how enthusiastically spectators may cheer for both sides, some media outlets distorted instances of “joint support for both Koreas” as simply “support for North Korea.” While many people endorse inter-Korean sports exchanges in principle, actual competitions often trigger political interpretations and misrepresentations that go far beyond sport itself. The reality is that displaced persons from the North and North Korean defectors living in the South still cannot freely and comfortably cheer for athletes who have come from their hometowns.
The unexpected arrival of Naegohyang Women’s FC left South Korean society with much to reflect upon and many issues yet to resolve. The two Koreas remain technically at war under the armistice system, having never formally ended the conflict. In other words, there is still much work to be done before genuine peaceful coexistence can be achieved.
At the same time, the team’s visit also left behind a sense of hope. It is my hope that the Aichi–Nagoya Asian Games this September will provide an opportunity for a more mature and constructive form of inter-Korean sports exchange to emerge.
*IL-Young Jeong is a Senior Research Fellow at Sogang University in Seoul. His key research interests include North Korea's social control system, inter-Korean relations, and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
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