North Korea's Footballers Arrive in Japan for Asian Games
North Korea’s footballers stepped into Japan on Friday dressed for a parade and prepared for a test.
In crisp white blazers, pink ties and blue trousers, the men’s team walked through Osaka airport just after lunchtime, their national flag stitched boldly on their chests. Light blue shirts, polished shoes, not a crease out of place. This was a carefully curated image of discipline and pride from a country that rarely shows itself on this kind of stage.
Waiting for them: noise.
A large group of pro-Pyongyang supporters, many waving North Korean flags, broke into song as the players emerged. Chants rose, cameras flashed, and bouquets of flowers were pressed into the hands of the squad before they boarded the team bus. Players leaned into the moment, waving from the windows, high-fiving well-wishers through the open doors.
The setting is unusual. The backdrop even more so.
Japan does not allow North Koreans to enter the country under normal circumstances, part of its sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. Yet sport has carved out an exception. For the Asian Games in Nagoya-Aichi, doors have opened that are otherwise firmly shut. The two countries still have no diplomatic relations, but their athletes will now share the same arenas, the same tunnels, the same walk to the pitch.
More than 100 North Korean athletes are expected to compete across 14 sports at these Games, which officially open on September 19. Football, though, will kick off early, and with it North Korea’s return to a Japanese stage that has long been politically sensitive.
Men's Team Campaign
The men’s team begin their campaign against China on September 16, a fixture that will immediately test their sharpness after years of disrupted international involvement. North Korea pulled out of global competitions during the pandemic, disappearing from view until resurfacing at the Asian Games in China in 2023 and then at the Paris Olympics. Now they arrive in Japan with a point to prove and a crowd ready-made to back them.
Women's Team Expectations
The women’s side, scheduled to land later on Friday evening, bring with them a different kind of expectation. Their record at youth level has been striking, with a history of success that has turned them into one of Asia’s most intriguing teams. In Japan, they open against Bangladesh on Monday before a far more politically charged meeting: a group-stage clash with South Korea on September 21.
That fixture will not need extra hype.
In Tokyo, preparations of a different sort have been under way. A pro-North Korean group has urged residents in Japan to come out and support the visiting athletes, trying to turn neutral venues into something closer to home ground. Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang publication based in Japan, released a video showing students from Korea University demonstrating how to cheer. They smile, sing, rehearse chants, and call on supporters to fill the stands in North Korea’s red.
While the cauldron and fireworks of the official opening ceremony are still days away, the tone around these Games is already shifting. Football starts early, and with North Korea on the pitch in Japan, the story will not just be about goals and group standings.
It will be about how a team from one of the world’s most closed-off nations handles the spotlight in a country where its flag is rarely seen, but this month, impossible to miss.
