When football becomes politics, everything counts: the North Korean government knows this, and has been betting on young women to defeat other countries — in football, of course.
North Korea cemented its status as one of the dominant forces in women’s youth football in early November by defeating the Netherlands 3-0 in the U17 World Cup final. They returned from the tournament victorious for the fourth time — a record — having won the last two editions.
The North Koreans also won the awards for best and second best player of the tournament. These trophies were awarded to the forward Yong-Hyang and his colleague Kim Won-sim, respectively. The success of young North Korean footballers is the result of a broader strategy, designed to reinforce national pride and improve the country’s international standing.
It is perhaps no surprise that North Korea, nominally under communist rule, was one of the first to invest in women’s football. THE socialist ideology generally encourages women’s participation in sport, seeing it as a means of achieving gender equality and promoting national strength.
In the late 1980s, when FIFA planned to launch women’s competitions, North Korean leaders quickly introduced women’s football development programs.
This included integrating the football training for girls in school curriculum and creating women’s teams in the army, which allowed players to train and develop full time, at the expense of the State.
This approach began to bear fruit. From the 1990s until the early 2010s, North Korea consistently maintained one of the best senior women’s national teams in Asia. The country won several Asian Cup titles, until a major doping scandal involving five national team players in 2011 put an end to this success.
North Korea was banned from participating in the 2015 Women’s World Cup and failed to qualify four years later. The country then entered a period of isolation during the pandemic, which prevented him from participating in the 2023 World Cup.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s youth women’s teams continued to demonstrate great quality on the international stage. The under-20 team won the first World Cup in the country’s history in 2006, and the North Koreans triumphed in the first U17 Women’s World Cup two years later.
Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011 and, like his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il has made the development of competitive sports a political priority. He significantly increased investment in sport, overseeing the construction of infrastructure such as the Pyongyang International Football School.
Opened in 2013, this is a state-owned elite training facility designed to identify and develop young talents for national teams. Some of the best players in the current youth group, including Yu Jong-hyang and Kim Won-sim, attended this school.
Why sport matters
Any sporting victory on the international stage is important for the North Korean government as it helps to reinforce nationalism among the population. In 2023, Kim Jong-un declared: “it is the sacred duty of our athletes to raise the national flag high in foreign lands”. Young North Korean footballers have fulfilled this role consistently.
Jon Il Chong, announced as the best player at the 2024 U-17 Women’s World Cup, told reporters after winning the final: “It was our team’s wish and honor to give the esteemed paternal marshal, Kim Jong-un, the report of joy and victory.” He further added: “I will train more and more in the future to demonstrate North Korea’s honor around the world.”
But Pyongyang’s objective goes beyond reinforcing nationalism among athletes. Two days after the 2025 U-17 Women’s World Cup final, state-run Korean Central Television broadcast a delayed recording of the game on large outdoor screens in Pyongyang. Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party’s official newspaper, described jubilant dinners throughout the capital.
“Even young mothers scolded their children to walk faster and stood in front of the screens, holding them tightly as they watched the game,” the report said. “The area around Pyongyang station became a sea of ecstasy.”
Abroad, North Korean leadership tends to be seen as despotic and militaristic. However, even relatively minor international sporting competitions, such as the U17 Women’s World Cup, offer an opportunity for North Korea to project a more positive image of itself to the world. They also provide a channel for diplomatic dialogue.
The FIFA page featured images and stories about North Korea’s under-17 women’s team following their victory in Morocco, with a clearly celebratory and congratulatory tone. Even in South Korea, a country with which the North maintains tense relations, football fans shared their admiration for the North Korean team’s success on social media.
It is clear that the dominance of young teams needs to be translated to the senior level for the State’s sporting strategy to be fully successful. North Korean players need to join professional leagues prestigious in the West, competing on a more visible stage against the best in the world.
But due to UN economic sanctions imposed on the Pyongyang regime — first applied in 2006 and tightened since then — no North Korean footballer can sign a contract with a foreign club. This creates a significant obstacle to North Korean football developmento beyond the youth ranks.
It remains to be seen whether North Korea will be able to regain its past momentum and qualify for the 2027 Senior Women’s World Cup in Brazil. For now, however, North Korea’s football dominance appears to be limited to the youth ranks.
