North Korean side Naegohyang won the Asian Women’s Champions League on Saturday, defeating Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza 1-0 in the final in Suwon, South Korea.
Captain Kim Kyong Yong scored shortly before half-time to secure victory and the continental title in the club’s debut season in the competition.
Players celebrated the triumph by parading North Korea’s national flag, an unusual sight in South Korea, where displays of the flag are generally restricted under the National Security Act, though exemptions exist for certain international sporting events. “Today, as we face a historic moment advancing into the world as the top team in Asia, the emotions and passion we feel are simply indescribable,” coach Ri Yu Il told reporters after the match.
The victory earns Naegohyang a place in next year’s FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, which brings together club champions from the six continental confederations.
No official away supporters attended the final because of travel restrictions between North and South Korea. However, around 1,200 members of civic groups supported by South Korea’s unification ministry were present at the match.
Relations between the two Koreas remain strained. The countries are technically still at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Recent years have seen ties deteriorate, with North Korea describing South Korea as its “most hostile state” and abandoning its long-standing goal of reunification.
However, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has indicated a desire to improve relations between the two neighbours.
Following the match, Ri and Kim left a news conference after objecting to a South Korean journalist’s reference to their country as the “north side”. Ri later said his team had focused exclusively on winning the final and not on political issues surrounding the event.