N. Korea soccer team wins 1st sports match played in South in 8 years

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. Naegohyang advanced to Saturday's finals of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League , where it will face Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza for a $1 million prize. Naegohyang Women's FC is introduced at the start of the match on Wednesday in Suwon Stadium.

Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI The match unfolded against a tense backdrop on the Korean Peninsula, where relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have remained frozen for years. Naegohyang coach Ri Yu-il told reporters before the match that his players came to the country with a sole focus on the match . Supporters of Naegohyang pose for a photo in Suwon Stadium on Wednesday.