The North Korean national football team has not played an international match since the 2022 World Cup Asian qualifiers at the end of 2019, when they drew 0-0 with Lebanon. Since the 2018 Asian Games, North Korea has not participated in any major international sporting events, missing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2022 Beijing Olympics and 2022 Qatar World Cup since The government closed its borders because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, North Korean athletes have registered to compete in athletics, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, boxing and weightlifting at this year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou. According to the organizing committee, North Korea has 191 athletes registered to attend the 2023 Asian Games.
North Korea will return to international competition today.
North Korea closed its borders in early 2020 after the pandemic broke out and skipped the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to 2021 because of Covid. They were later banned from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by the International Olympic Committee for not participating in Tokyo.
There have been recent signs that their borders have been relaxed a bit, with a taekwondo team allowed to compete last month in Kazakhstan. Previously, North Korea had not sent any domestic athletes to compete abroad since the pandemic. Leader Kim Jong Un is said to be an avid sports fan and China, the host country of the Olympics, is a long-time ally of North Korea.
North Korean spectators in the stands.
The special sport that South Korea always performs well at the Asian Games is football. The North Korean women’s team won the gold medal by defeating Japan in 2014, while the North Korean men’s football team reached the Asiad final and lost to South Korea, finishing as runners-up. Both the men’s and women’s teams competed in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Asiad. However, considering their time away from international competition, it is unlikely they can repeat such success at this year’s event. or not.
After being delayed by the epidemic for a year, the Asian Games will officially begin in Hangzhou, China on September 23 and last until October 8. North Korea’s participation in the Games Asia could once again show that it will return to international events such as the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
North Korea is in Group F with Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei. Their opening match will take place today against Chinese Taipei. Based on the bracket, North Korea and Vietnam can face each other right in the round of 16. Vietnam will also play this afternoon in the match against Mongolia.
Thanh Vu | 08:21 September 19, 2023
