ėŽė§ íë Lee Yoo-il, head coach of the hometown women’s soccer team, is leaving Incheon International Airport on the 24th. a joint employment foundation
The North Korean women’s home soccer team, which visited South Korea to participate in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League, left with the championship trophy. Attention was drawn to the North Korean sports team’s visit to the South for the first time in seven years, but the North Korean players and coaches ended their week in South Korea in a cold manner.
My hometown soccer team left for Beijing through Incheon International Airport on the 24th. Thirty-five players and officials from my hometown soccer team, who left Pyongyang on the 17th and entered South Korea via Beijing, won the AFC Women’s Champions League, which ended on the 23rd, defeating Suwon FC Women and Tokyo Verdi Belleza (Japan). My hometown soccer team, which participated in the championship for the first time and lifted the trophy, won $1 million (about 1.5 billion won), and team captain Kim Kyung-young, who scored consecutive goals in the semifinals and finals, received the MVP award.
It was the first time in seven years and five months that North Korean players played in South Korea since the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Grand Final in December 2018. Every move of my hometown soccer team, which was the first visit to the South since North Korea defined inter-Korean relations as “two hostile countries,” drew attention during the tournament.
In South Korea, a joint cheering group of more than 200 groups was formed, and they cheered for my hometown soccer team at the semi-final match on the 20th and the final match on the 23rd. After my hometown soccer team confirmed the championship, President Lee Jae Myung posted a congratulatory message on social network service (SNS) saying, “My sincere congratulations to the players of my hometown women’s soccer team who won the championship.”
However, the reaction of my hometown soccer team was cold. Those who have not responded to the greetings of Korean reporters and cheering squads since entering the country on the 17th avoided contact with Korean figures as much as possible.
At the official press conference, he was sensitive to questions from Korean reporters. Finally, at the official press conference of the winning team on the 23rd, coach Lee Yoo-il stopped talking to reporters that “the North’s women’s soccer has been of a high level since the past,” and showed signs of discomfort by shaking his head. The interpreter of my hometown team, who was present at the conference, then demanded that he do it again in relation to the use of the national title, and suddenly left and unilaterally ended the press conference after coach Lee said, “I will not take that person’s question.” The words “North” and “North” themselves, which were used when the confrontation between the two Koreas took place in the past, were said to be unpleasant.
My hometown soccer team also celebrated by going around the track with an artificial flag during the winning team’s ceremony, but they did not greet or respond to the stands such as the joint cheering squad. Leaving Suwon on the 24th, my hometown soccer team showed a firm face without saying anything at the departure hall of Incheon International Airport.
[Reporter Kim Jihan]