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North Korea's Naegohyang Women's FC arrived in South Korea this week for the first inter-Korean sporting encounter in eight years, set to face Suwon FC Women in the semi-finals of the Asian Women's Champions League on Wednesday in Suwon.
The match has drawn significant public attention. General admission tickets, 7,087 in total, sold out within hours of going on sale last week.
Around 3,000 spectators from civic groups backed by Seoul's unification ministry are expected to attend and cheer both sides.
There will be no official away supporters for Naegohyang. North Koreans are generally barred from entering the South, and the two countries have technically remained at war since the 1950–53 Korean conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Naegohyang's delegation arrived at Incheon International Airport on Sunday, where players and officials were met by large groups of reporters and supporters holding welcome signs.
At a pre-match press conference, Naegohyang head coach Ri Yu Il deflected questions about the prospect of South Korean spectators cheering his side.
"We are here solely to play football," Ri said. "Simply put, we will focus only on each match. The issue of the supporters is not something I, as a coach, or our players need to concern ourselves with. We will concentrate exclusively on the game."
Suwon FC Women captain Ji So-yun, a former Chelsea midfielder, said she had not witnessed such intense media interest in women's football before. She described Naegohyang as a formidable opponent.
"Naegohyang are expected to be very strong—almost at the level of a North Korean national team," Ji said.
"When North Korean players compete, they tend to be very physical and there is also a lot of verbal abuse on the pitch. So our players should not back down. If they swear at us, we will swear back at them. If they kick us, we will kick them back."
The two clubs previously met in the group stage of the same competition, with Naegohyang winning 3-0. Ri cautioned against reading too much into that result.
"It would be absolutely wrong to say that one team is stronger or weaker than another based solely on those results," he said.
The winner of Wednesday's semi-final will face either Australia's Melbourne City or Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the final, also in Suwon, on Saturday.
Women's football is among North Korea's strongest international sports. The national side ranks 11th in the FIFA Women's World Ranking, well above the men's team, which sits at 118th. Cheering guidelines have been established ahead of the match, with local media reporting that authorities discussed restrictions with civic groups.
Waving North Korean national flags in public is prohibited under South Korea's national security law. In past inter-Korean events held in the South, civic groups have instead displayed flags depicting the Korean Peninsula.
The Seoul government has provided $200,000 to support South Korean civic groups planning to attend the match.
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