North Korea moved within one match of retaining their title after defeating their southern neighbour’s 3-0 in their AFC U20 Women\u2019s Asian Cup Thailand semi-final at the Pathum Thani Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pak Il Sim\u2019s thunderbolt and Kang Ryu Mi\u2019s composed finish in the first half, with Choe Yon A adding the third, sent North Korea on their way to a ninth final appearance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A revamped South Korean side, with only Kim Chae-been, Yoon Ah-yeong and Cheon Si-woo retained from the team that suffered a 5-0 defeat to North Korea in the group stage, were able to absorb the early pressure this time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first noteworthy action came in the 14th minute when Choe Rim Jong tried to surprise South Korean custodian Kim Chae-been with an ambitious lob from an acute angle but her effort from 35-yards sailed over the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chae-been had to be alert five minutes later to deny Jon Il-Chong\u2019s downward header following Choe Rim Jong\u2019s delivery, before South Korea sparked a move of their own in the 20th minute but were left disappointed by Jin Hye-rin\u2019s tame effort from above the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The breakthrough for North Korea finally arrived four minutes later when Il Sim caught Chae-been out of position with a stinging strike from outside the box, which zipped over the South Korean keeper before settling into the top right corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korea were left further stunned in the 34th minute after a neat exchange between Pak Ok I and So Ryu Gyong put Ryu Mi through on goal, with the Rimyongsu SC forward slipping the ball past a rooted Chae-been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pak Il Sim and Ri Kuk Hyang then let South Korea off in first-half stoppage time after both saw their efforts from distance fail to hit the target as North Korea took a comfortable lead going into the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korea\u2019s introduction of Park Ju-Ha and Seo Min-Jeong in the second half failed to change the narrative as North Korea remained relentless in attack with Ro Un Hyang rattling the right post just after the hour mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korea threatened to add a third in the 72nd minute with Choe Yon A testing Chae-been from distance before the South Korean custodian reacted quickly to deny Ri Su Jong from close range on the follow-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korea\u2019s resistance was, however, finally broken in the 84th minute with Ri Su Jong creating the space inside a packed box for Choe Yon A to finish as North Korea stayed on course for a third title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea moved within one match of retaining their title after defeating their southern neighbour’s 3-0 in their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-11705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding.jpeg",938,560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding-300x179.jpeg",300,179,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding-768x459.jpeg",640,383,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding.jpeg",640,382,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding.jpeg",938,560,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding.jpeg",938,560,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding-825x560.jpeg",825,560,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding-590x410.jpeg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/stadium-branding.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11706,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11705\/revisions\/11706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}