SEOUL, June 2 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un honored members of Naegohyang Women’s FC after the team won Asia’s top women’s club competition in South Korea last month, state media reported Tuesday.
Kim watched an exhibition match between Naegohyang and North Korea’s national under-17 women’s team during celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Central Cadres Training School of the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Before the match, the North Korean leader met players and coaches from both teams and congratulated them on their recent international successes, expressing hope they would continue winning trophies “associated with their patriotism.”
The exhibition game, which featured “high competitive spirit,” brought the anniversary celebrations to a close, KCNA reported. Images released by state media showed Kim greeting players on the field and posing for photographs with both teams, with some athletes appearing tearful during the encounter.
Naegohyang drew significant local and international attention last month when it traveled to South Korea for the finals of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League, marking the first appearance by North Korean athletes in the South since a brief period of detente in 2018.
The tournament unfolded against a backdrop of frozen inter-Korean relations and years of near-total estrangement between the neighbors. South Korea’s government promoted the event and expressed hope it could help foster renewed exchanges.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said at the time that he believed the tournament would “set a good precedent in inter-Korean relations that have been effectively cut off over the past eight years.”
Naegohyang defeated host club Suwon FC in the semifinals before topping Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza 1-0 in the May 23 final to claim the AFC Women’s Champions League title.
The championship carries a $1 million prize, but local media have reported that it remains unclear whether the funds can be transferred to North Korea under U.N. sanctions restrictions. The AFC has not publicly commented on the issue.
Founded in 2012 and backed by a domestic manufacturing company, Naegohyang has emerged as one of North Korea’s leading women’s clubs. The squad includes several players who helped North Korea capture recent FIFA U-17 and U-20 Women’s World Cups.
Following its victory, the team’s coach abruptly left a post-match press conference after a South Korean reporter referred to North Korea as the “North” and the “northern side” rather than by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. North Korean media later reported the championship victory but omitted details that the final had been played in South Korea.
Kim’s appearance came during celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Central Cadres Training School, the ruling party’s premier institution for training political cadres.
In a speech, Kim stressed the importance of educating future party officials and described the school as a “strategic fortress guaranteeing the existence and development of the Party.”