Kim Jong-un Personally Honors Naegohyang Women's FC Following AFC Champions League Title Won in South Korea

Kim Jong-un met with players and coaches of Naegohyang Women's Football Club on June 2, 2026, personally congratulating them on winning the AFC Women's Champions League title during ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the Central Cadres Training School. Kim watched an exhibition match between Naegohyang and North Korea's national U-17 women's squad before the ceremony. The team won the AFC Women's Champions League final 1-0 over Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza at Suwon Sports Complex in South Korea on May 23, 2026 — Kim Kyong-yong scoring just before half-time — making Naegohyang the first North Korean women's club to win the continental title and earn the $1 million prize. The 39-member delegation had arrived in South Korea on May 17 via an Air China flight from Beijing, becoming the first DPRK athletic group to compete in South Korea in nearly eight years. The team's eight-day stay was the longest North Korean athletic presence in the South since the 2018 Moon-Kim inter-Korean engagement era. Kim's personal recognition of the players underscores the DPRK propaganda value of the historic triumph — the team's photos and footage from South Korea circulated widely domestically, a rare instance of DPRK citizens seeing images of South Korean daily life. Kim praised the players' 'patriotic spirit' and the honor they brought to the nation.