Players of the soccer team, including Son Heung-min, shake hands with North Korean players after the 3rd round of Group H of the 2nd round of the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asia held at Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang on October 15, 2019. Provided by the Korean Football Association
With North Korea’s declaration of absence from the Tokyo Olympics, interest is being focused on whether to participate in the Group H match in the 2nd round of the World Cup in June. Korea, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka in Group H will all play the remaining matches in Group H of Group H in the World Cup Asian region, which had been postponed due to Corona 19 according to the decision of the Asian Football Federation. On the 6th, North Korea officially announced the decision to absent from the Tokyo Olympics through the website of’Chosun Sports’ run by the Ministry of Sports and Sports. Accordingly, interest emerged as to whether North Korea would participate in the second Asian qualifier for the World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in South Korea in June. Since North Korea’s participation in international sports competitions is heavily influenced by political decisions, the Korea Football Association is also keenly aware of it. An official from the Korea Football Association said, “I know that the Asian Football Federation (AFC) continues to communicate with North Korea. There are still no special signs of not participating in the World Cup qualifiers.” North Korea is running third in Group H (2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss), including a draw in the confrontation with South Korea held in Pyongyang in October 2019. In the 5th and 8th rounds of June, the game is scheduled to be played against Sri Lanka (June 3), Korea (June 7), and Turkmenistan (June 15). However, as the venue was decided in South Korea, whether or not North Korea will participate has emerged as a concern from the beginning. An official from the Korea Football Association said, “There is no separate application deadline for the second round of the World Cup. The Korean Football Association is also closely watching North Korea’s movements,” he said. Also, “The North Korean side has always been slow to respond to issues related to participation in competitions. The negative situation regarding North Korea’s participation in the World Cup qualifiers has not yet been detected.” North Korea has scored 8 points against Lebanon (1 win 1 draw), Sri Lanka (1 win), South Korea (1 draw) and Turkmenistan (1 loss) in the World Cup qualifiers. If North Korea does not participate, all previous records will be treated as confiscation. Countries that haven’t properly scored in the match against North Korea may benefit. On the other hand, North Korea posted on the homepage of’Chosun Sports’ run by the Ministry of Sports, “The Olympic Committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (last 25th of last month) in order to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by virulent virus infection. Debate decided not to participate in the 32nd Olympic Games.” It has been 33 years since the boycott of the 1988 Seoul Olympics that North Korea has been absent from the Olympics. Senior Reporter Kim Chang-geum [email protected]
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