North Korea to play first international match in four years next week

The North Korean national football team will return to the international sports stage next week, nearly four years after the country shut its borders and withdrew from all competition.

North Korean football fans cheer for their women's team during a 2017 EAEF E-1 Football Championship match against South Korea at Fukuda Denshi Arena in Chiba, Japan on Dec. 11, 2017. [YONHAP]

The North Korean national football team will return to the international sports stage next week, nearly four years after the country shut its borders and withdrew from all competition.

North Korea's national football team has not played a single competitive fixture since the 2022 World Cup Asia qualifiers at the end of 2019, last facing Lebanon in a 0-0 draw on Nov. 19.

Across all sports, North Korea has not taken part in any major international competition since the 2018 Asian Games, skipping the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the 2022 Qatar World Cup as the country closed its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But North Korea will compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games, and has already registered athletes in multiple sports including football, volleyball and judo.

Football in particular is one sport where the North has previously excelled at the Asian Games.

The North Korean men’s football team reached the final of the 2014 Asiad and finished as runners-up after losing to South Korea, while its women’s team took gold medal with a victory over Japan in the same year.

Its men’s and women’s teams also both reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 Asiad.

Whether they can manage the same success in this year’s tournament remains to be seen, however, as they have not competed on the international level for such a long time.

The same goes for its judoka, who are all in their 20s and have very little experience on the international stage.

The oldest is Kim Chol-gwang, 27, the only judoka on the team that has seen success in big international tournaments, winning a silver medal in the men’s 73 kilograms division at the 2016 Judo Grand Prix Samsun and bronze in the 2018 World Judo Championships.

Chae Kwang-jin, who compete in the men’s 60 kilograms, will make his international return for the first time since the junior world competitions six years ago.

Since the 1974 Asian Games, North Korea has competed in every Asiad, except for the 1986 and 1994 Games.

North Korea has seen some success in the past Games, managing a top-five overall finish four times in 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1990. They finished in 10th in the most recent Asiad in 2018 with 37 medals in total — 12 golds, 12 silvers and 13 bronzes.

The Asian Games organizing committee did not reveal all the sports North Korea is competing in, but said that they will participate in the sports that they have consistently medaled at.

North Korea’s return to the Asian Games may also mean that the country will be competing in other international events in the future, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. The International Olympic Committee even sent an invitation to North Korea in July.

The Asiad will start in Hangzhou, China on Sept. 23 and run through Oct. 8 after a one-year postponement caused by the pandemic.

This year’s tournament will see a total of 12,500 athletes from 45 Asian countries compete across 40 disciplines.

South Korea's Son Heung-min, left, in action during a second round match of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup against North Korea at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea on Oct. 15, 2019. [NEWS1]

North Korea's first event at the Games will be on the football pitch, with group stage matches starting ahead of the official opening ceremony. The North Korean men's team will first face Chinese Taipei on Sept. 19, with the women's team facing Cambodia on Sept. 21.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]