NK resumes sports diplomacy to brand itself as 'normal state'

South Korea's Son Heung-min, right, competes for the ball with a North Korean player during a qualifier for the 2022 Qatar World Cup at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, Oct. 15, 2019. Courtesy of Korea Football Association

Pyongyang's opening won't result in mood for dialogue

By Nam Hyun-woo

North Korea is resuming its sports diplomacy with the intention to participate in global sporting events, including the World Cup, after sealing off its borders for almost three years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts said, Thursday, this appears to be the Kim Jong-un regime's attempt to style itself as "a normal state" and seek diplomatic exchanges with other countries.

"Since the start of COVID-19, the North's foreign relations have been in a downturn, as it kept its border closed while other countries were resuming international exchanges, and it appears that the North saw participating in international sporting events as the most effective way to enhance its global image and style itself as a normal state," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.

"This also means that the North has an intention to open its border to foreign sports delegations, given the home-and-away system of World Cup qualifiers. Consequently, this move will naturally bring diplomats, correspondents and other foreign nationals who had left Pyongyang back to the city."

Citing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Radio Free Asia reported on Tuesday that FIFA and the AFC "have received North Korea's intention to participate in the Asian Qualifiers" for the 2026 World Cup.

In 2019, North Korea competed against South Korea, Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka for a spot in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. However, the qualifiers were halted due to the pandemic, and North Korea withdrew from the competition ― although the qualifiers resumed in 2021.

For the 2026 World Cup, North Korea is grouped with Japan, Syria and the winner between Myanmar and Macau. North Korea's first game is scheduled for Nov. 16 at home, requiring the reclusive state to open its borders to Syrian players.

In addition to the World Cup, North Korea is set to compete in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8. The organizing committee of the games announced in June that all 45 Asian countries have registered for the event, including North Korea.

Japan's Tokyo Shimbun reported that North Korea will also send over 100 taekwondo athletes to the 22nd ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships in Kazakhstan, slated for Aug. 15 to 30.

Recently, North Korea invited foreign golfers to a tournament in Pyongyang.

"The Pyongyang Golf Course hosts an amateur golfers' competition in spring and autumn every year," read a post from Aug. 2 on Pyongyang's official DPR Korea Tour website.

"It seems that the North is taking a step-by-step approach," Yang said. "As it seeks to open its door with sports exchanges, the next step will be social and cultural exchanges, followed by economic exchanges. The last step will likely be political exchanges."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un points at Seoul and adjacent Gyeonggi Province on a map of South Korea, during an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party, Wednesday, in this photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, Thursday.

Nonetheless, this will not likely build momentum for forming a mood for dialogue between the two Koreas, because the two countries' fundamental strategies toward each other are confrontational.

Even as sports diplomacy resumes, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday that its leader Kim Jong-un has called for preparing for "a possible war in an offensive" manner, revealing a photograph of Kim pointing at Seoul on a map.

"He deeply summarized and analyzed the present situation of the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity and made an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA (the North's Korean People's Army) in an offensive way," the KCNA said, referring to Kim.

"It remains to be seen whether the North's resuming of exchanges with the outside world will build momentum for dialogue," Yang said. "In order to have this as momentum, the trilateral bloc of South Korea, the United States and Japan also has to make an overture, but under the current hardline stance, it won't be easy to see that happen."

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