DPRK youth football team arrives in ROK

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The DPRK's youth football team arrived in the ROK on Thursday to attend the 5th ARI Sports Cup tournament, which is to be held in Chuncheon and Inje, Gangwon Province, from October 29 to November 3.

The delegation, consisting of 84 members, was led by Mun Ung, the head of the DPRK football league's dominant team, the April 25 of Pyongyang.

When the visitors from the DPRK crossed the Military Demarcation Line, they were welcomed by the governor of Gangwon, Choi Moon-soon, and other officials at the transit office in the border city of Paju.

The 4th ARI Sports Cup U-15 International Football Tournament was held from August 15 to 18 this summer, as the South side sent a 151-person delegation to Pyongyang.

A player from the DPRK‘s April 25 Sports Club (C) shoots past players from the S Gangwon-do team of South Korea during the 4th Ari Sports Cup U-15 International Football Tournament at the Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, the DPRK, August 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

This kind of sport event has been organized by the Korean Sports Exchange Association since 2006, and been held in the DPRK, the ROK and China on a consecutive basis, even at times of 'high-tension' for the peninsula.

A total of eight teams including China, Vietnam, Iran, and Uzbekistan will join the tournament. The DPRK sent three teams to take part in and they will return home on November 3 via China.

As for the function of the event, Governor Choi told Yonhap, "We hope this football tournament can make progress and play a bigger role in the development of inter-Korean relations."

"More than 25,000 residents in Gangwon said they would watch the matches. In achieving this tournament, I hope we can have an opportunity that will expand exchanges between young students from the two sides."