SEOUL, May 4 (UPI) -- A North Korean women's soccer team will travel to South Korea later this month to compete in a regional tournament, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Monday, marking the first inter-Korean sports exchange since 2018.
Naegohyang Women's FC is set to face Suwon FC Women in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League on May 20 at Suwon Stadium, as part of the tournament's finals stage being held in South Korea.
Pyongyang notified Seoul on May 1 that a 39-member delegation -- including 27 players and 12 staff -- will make the trip, according to a briefing shared by the Unification Ministry with reporters. The team is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport via Beijing on May 17.
The exchange will be the first since a period of detente in 2018, when North Korea participated in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, fielding a unified women's ice hockey team with the South. Pyongyang later sent athletes to additional sporting events, including a youth football tournament in Gangwon Province.
Relations have soured in the years since, with North Korea officially designating the South as a "most hostile state."
