1 of 7 | A player for Naegohyang Women's FC of North Korea shoots as opponents from South Korea’s Suwon FC Women give chase Wednesday night in Suwon. Naegohyang won 2-1 in the rare inter-Korean soccer match. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SUWON, South Korea, May 20 (UPI) -- A North Korean women's soccer squad won the first sporting event played by team from the North in South Korea since 2018 -- a 2-1 triumph in steady rain Wednesday 18 miles south of Seoul.
South Korea's government had promoted the game and expressed hope it could help improve ties between the two governments.
Captain Kim Kyong-yong, of North Korea's Naegohyang FC, scored the game-winning goal against South Korea's Suwon FC in the Asian Champions League semifinal at Suwon Stadium in the Gyeonggi Province. That score came from a 67th-minute header.
Nearly 5,800 fans attended the match, the first sporting event played by North Korean players in South Korea since a unified Korean table tennis squad competed at a 2018 tournament in Incheon.
