North Korea cemented its status as one of the dominant forces in women\u2019s youth football in early November, defeating the Netherlands 3-0 in the under-17 World Cup final. They returned from the tournament victorious for a record extending fourth time, having won the past two titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North Koreans also won awards for the tournament\u2019s best and second-best overall players. These trophies went to North Korea\u2019s forward, Yu Jong-hyang, and her teammate, Kim Won-sim, respectively. The success of North Korea\u2019s young footballers is the product of a broader strategy aimed at strengthening national pride and boosting the country\u2019s international standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is perhaps no great surprise that North Korea, which is nominally under communist rule, was an early adopter of women\u2019s football. Socialist ideology generally encourages women to take part in sport, seeing it as a means of achieving gender equality and promoting national strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the late 1980s, when football\u2019s global governing body Fifa was planning to launch women\u2019s competitions, North Korea\u2019s leaders promptly introduced football development programmes for women. This included incorporating football training for girls into the school curriculum and creating women\u2019s football teams in the army, which allowed players to train and develop full-time at the state\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This approach soon began to pay off. From the 1990s to the early 2010s, North Korea consistently had one of the best senior national women\u2019s football teams in Asia. North Korea won several Asian Cup titles before a major doping scandal involving five national-team players in 2011 put the breaks on this success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korea was banned from the 2015 women\u2019s World Cup and failed to qualify four years later. The country then went into a period of isolation during the pandemic, which prevented it from participating in the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North Korean women\u2019s youth sides, meanwhile, have continuously shown footballing prowess on the international stage. The under-20 squad won the country\u2019s first football World Cup in 2006, with North Korea emerging victorious from the inaugural under-17 women\u2019s World Cup two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011 and, like his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il, made the development of competitive sport a key policy priority. He increased investment in sport significantly, overseeing the construction of sports facilities such as the Pyongyang International Football School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opened in 2013, this is a state-run elite training facility that aims to identify and develop talented young footballers for the country\u2019s national teams. Some of the best players from the current youth setup, including Yu Jong-hyang and Kim Won-sim, attended the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any sporting victory on the global stage is important for the North Korean government as it helps boost nationalism among the country\u2019s people. In 2023, Kim Jong-un proclaimed: \u201cit is a sacred duty of our athletes to raise our national flag high in foreign land\u201d. Young North Korean women footballers have consistently performed this very act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jon Il Chong, who was announced as the best player at the under-17 women\u2019s World Cup in 2024, told reporters after North Korea\u2019s victory in the final: \u201cIt was the desire and honour of our team to give the respected fatherly marshal, Kim Jong-un, the report of pleasure and victory.\u201d She added: \u201cI will train harder and harder in the future so that I will demonstrate the honour of North Korea throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Pyongyang\u2019s goal extends beyond boosting nationalism among its athletes. Two days after the 2025 under-17 women\u2019s final, the state-run Korean Central Television channel broadcast a delayed recording of the match on large outdoor screens in Pyongyang. Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers\u2019 party, described jubilant scenes across the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven young mothers scolded their children to walk faster and stopped in front of the screens, holding them tight as they watched the match,\u201d its report said. \u201cThe area around Pyongyang Station became a sea of ecstasy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n