North Korea's Footballers Make Rare Arrival in Japan for Asian Games

North Korea’s footballers stepped into Japan on Friday dressed like a statement.

White blazers, pink ties, blue trousers, light blue shirts. The national flag stitched boldly on the chest. A team that has spent years in isolation walked through Osaka’s airport to the sound of songs, flags and outstretched hands from pro-Pyongyang supporters, as the build-up to the Asian Games in Nagoya-Aichi moved from politics to the pitch.

A rare arrival on Japanese soil

More than 100 North Korean athletes will compete in 14 sports at the Games, which officially open on September 19 but begin early for football. For Japan, their presence is an exception carved out of hard policy: North Koreans are normally barred from entering the country as part of sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes. Only visiting athletes get the door unlocked.

The two nations have no diplomatic relations. Yet at the arrivals hall, it felt like a home crowd.

Supporters waved North Korean flags, sang, and lined up to greet the men’s football squad, who flew in from Beijing around lunchtime. Bouquets were handed over. Players boarded the team bus still engaging with the crowd, waving from the windows and high-fiving well-wishers pressed up against the barriers.

The scene was carefully choreographed, but the enthusiasm was not.

Football returns after isolation

North Korea effectively disappeared from the international sporting stage during the pandemic, suspending its participation in global competitions. Its re-emergence has been deliberate and symbolic.

The country returned at the Asian Games in China in 2023, then sent athletes to the Paris Olympics. Now comes another high-profile platform in Japan, a country with which it shares a fraught and frozen history.

On the field, the schedule is unforgiving. The men’s team open their campaign against China on September 16, an early test of their level after years of limited exposure. The women’s side, whose youth teams have built a formidable reputation with major international success, arrive later on Friday and jump straight into action.

They face Bangladesh on Monday in the group stage. Waiting in the same group: South Korea, with the all-Korean clash set for September 21, a fixture that always carries a charge beyond the 90 minutes.

A choreographed chorus in the stands

While the athletes settle in, work has already begun to shape the stands.

A pro-North Korean group in Tokyo has urged residents in Japan to come out and back the visiting teams. The push is organised and visual. Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang publication based in Japan, released a video featuring students from Korea University demonstrating how to cheer at the Games.

In the clip, smiling students lead chants and songs, breaking down the rhythms and words, then call on supporters to pack venues wearing North Korea’s red. It is part tutorial, part rallying cry, aimed at turning neutral Japanese arenas into pockets of Pyongyang colour.

The message is clear: if the athletes have been granted a rare stage in Japan, the supporters intend to make it sound and feel like theirs.