Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
NK's football club brushes off joint cheering squad questions, keeps focus on Suwon semifinal
Ri Yu-il, left, head coach of Naegohyang Women’s FC, speaks during a press conference at Suwon Sports Complex in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps
By Park Ji-won
Unification ministry white paper's 2-state acknowledgement draws constitutional scrutiny
The coach of a North Korean women's football club deflected questions regarding an allegedly 3,000-strong inter-Korean joint cheering squad, saying the matter is of no concern to his players.
“I am not sure whether similar questions about the supporters will be asked, but we are entirely here for the match. We will focus on the upcoming matches. It is not something that a coach or players should take into consideration,” Ri Yu-il, head coach of Naegohyang Women’s FC, said Tuesday during a press conference.
Ri and the squad arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a match against South Korea's Suwon FC Women scheduled for Wednesday evening, for the AFC Women's Champions League semifinals.
On the match itself, Ri said the team is "well prepared."
He added, "All four teams that made the semifinals are playing at an excellent level — anyone can win the title. At this stage, it's impossible to separate the strong from the weak."
Captain and striker Kim Kyoung-yong said the squad was in good shape ahead of the match.
“As the team captain and an attacker, I will do my best,” Kim said. “We will do our utmost to live up to the faith and expectations of people in our country, our parents and our brothers back home.”
The deflection appears to reflect Pyongyang's broader posture to present the country as an independent country separate from Seoul.
In late 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced that the North would abandon the goal of reunification, defining the South as a “principal enemy” under a two-state framework. The North subsequently revised its constitution to remove all references to reunification, signaling that it is no longer pursuing reunification.
On the same day the North Korean football team arrived, Kim ordered his military to fortify the inter-Korean border.
That stance was visible in the small details of the team's arrival. The delegation took an air route from Beijing, rather than crossing overland between the two Koreas. They remained silent as civic supporters welcomed them at the airport and reporters asked questions. They also showed passports for facial recognition checks — a requirement that was not imposed during previous North Korean visits under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act.
As the North Korean squad kept its comments strictly to sporting matters, the South Korean government struck a similar tone. Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young will attend Wednesday's semifinal and the final on Saturday, while Unification Minister Chung Dong-young opted not to attend the inter-Korean event.
The visit has nonetheless stirred hopes in the South that football could help thaw frozen relations. The Ministry of Unification pledged up to 300 million won ($200,000) for civic organizations to fund a joint cheering squad. However, the decision drew backlash over sporting fairness, as the unification ministry allegedly bulk-purchased ticket blocks for the joint cheering squad in sections normally reserved for home fans.
"Given the reality that the Koreas are de facto two countries, (we) hope to transition the inter-Korean relations into peacefully co-existing relations," the unification ministry said in a white paper released Monday.
Some, however, criticized it for contradicting the Constitution, which claims North Korea as South Korean territory.
A unification ministry official refuted the criticism. "The white paper is not representing that the entire government and unification ministry's stance on two states is in line with previous governments' initiatives," the official said.
Meanwhile, the Lee Jae Myung administration continues to pursue peaceful coexistence while upholding the constitutional commitment to reunification, but has struggled to find common ground even within the government on how to approach the North.