Members of the North Korean women's soccer team Naegohyang Women's FC on May 17 head for a bus after arriving at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport. (Yonhap News)

By Kang Gahui

The North Korean women's soccer team Naegohyang Women's FC is the first sports squad from the North to visit South Korea in eight years.

Naegohyang will compete in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do Province. The team arrived in the country at 2:20 p.m. that day at Incheon International Airport.

The squad comprises 39 members -- 27 athletes and 12 staff, the Ministry of Unification said.

Naegohyang on May 20 at 7 p.m. faces Suwon FC Women of South Korea's WK League at Suwon Stadium after the first semifinal at 2 p.m. between Melbourne City FC of Australia and Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan. The winners of each game will play for the title on May 23 at 2 p.m.

Regardless of its result, the North Korean team will stay in Suwon through the weekend.

This is the first time for a North Korean team to compete in the country since December 2018, when the North sent athletes to the grand finals of the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour in Incheon. This visit is the first by a North Korean women's soccer team since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

With the ministry allocating KRW 300 million in support funding after deliberation by the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund Management Deliberation Committee, private organizations will have people cheer for Naegyohyang at the stadium against Suwon FC women fans.

kgh89@korea.kr