South Korean civic groups are organizing cheering squads to welcome North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Club, which is scheduled to face a South Korean team in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League on May 20 at 7 p.m. at Suwon Stadium in Gyeonggi Province.
The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation plans to organize a cheering squad consisting of 100 to 200 participants. Combined with supporters from other civic organizations, including the NGO Council for Inter-Korea Cooperation, the total number could exceed 1,000, a KCRC official said in a statement Wednesday.
The Korean Sharing Movement also announced Wednesday its intention to recruit 100 supporters for the semifinal match. All available spots were filled within roughly an hour.
However, organizations are proceeding with caution when determining appropriate chants, flags and other cheering methods for the North Korean team.
Civic groups emphasized their awareness of the broader political context, noting that this visit marks the first by a North Korean sports team to South Korea since Kim Jong-un’s “two hostile states” policy was declared in late 2023.
The two Koreas remain technically still at war. South Korean law prohibits the display or waving of the North Korean national flag.
A Unification Ministry official previously explained that as the event is an international club competition, only club flags will be displayed during matches and national anthems will not be played.
Local media reports indicated that Asian Football Confederation regulations banning political or religious expressions inside stadiums could also restrict the use of the Korean unification flag, which features a blue silhouette of the Korean Peninsula on a white background.
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