North Korea's Footballers Arrive in Japan for Asian Games
North Korea’s footballers stepped into Japan on Friday dressed for a diplomatic reception but headed for a fight on the pitch.
In crisp white blazers, pink ties and blue trousers, the men’s team walked through Osaka’s arrivals hall just after lunchtime, their national flag stitched boldly on their chests. Waiting for them: a wall of red, song and flags from pro-Pyongyang supporters who had turned a routine team arrival into a choreographed welcome.
Songs rang out. Flags snapped in the air. Bouquets were handed over, one by one, as players filed past and onto the team bus. From the windows, they waved and high-fived well‑wishers, the briefest of connections before the serious work begins.
A return to the big stage
More than 100 North Korean athletes will compete in 14 sports at the Asian Games in Nagoya-Aichi, which officially open on September 19. Football starts early, and so does North Korea’s campaign.
The men’s side open against China on September 16, a fixture that will immediately test a squad representing a country that all but disappeared from international sport during the pandemic. North Korea halted participation in global competitions during that period, then re-emerged at the Asian Games in China in 2023 and went on to take part in the Paris Olympics.
Now they arrive in a country that, officially, keeps its doors shut to them.
Japan bars North Korean nationals as part of sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. Yet the Games have forced a narrow exception: visiting athletes are allowed in, even as the two nations maintain no diplomatic relations. The contrast is stark — political freeze outside the stadiums, full-throated backing inside them.
Women’s team brings pedigree
Later in the evening, the women’s football team were scheduled to land, carrying with them a reputation that precedes them. North Korea’s women have built a formidable record at youth level on the international stage, often outpunching far larger football nations in age-group tournaments.
Their schedule in Japan offers little time to settle. They face Bangladesh on Monday, then move into a much more politically charged fixture: a group that also includes South Korea, with that clash set for September 21. For a team used to pressure and expectation, this is the kind of stage they relish.
Rallying the red wall
Inside Japan, support for North Korea’s athletes has been carefully organised.
A pro-North Korean group in Tokyo has urged people living in the country to turn out for the Games and back the teams. Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang publication based in Japan, released a video featuring students from Korea University demonstrating how to cheer — chants, songs, the rhythm of support laid out step by step.
The message from the smiling students is simple: wear red, fill the stands, make the athletes feel at home in a country that, politically at least, is anything but.
So the scene is set. North Korea’s footballers have crossed a border that rarely opens, walking into a nation that does not recognise their state but will host their ambitions for the next few weeks. The blazers and bouquets will soon be swapped for boots and battles, and the welcome songs replaced by the roar that follows every tackle, every break, every goal.
