Could a football match soften North Korea-South Korea relations?

A North Korean women's football team played in South Korea marking the first time athletes from the North have crossed the border in nearly 8 years. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Composite image showing a BBC reporter wearing black rain coat on the left and supporters celebrating on the right Could a football match soften North Korea-South Korea relations? A women's football match between teams from North and South Korea marked the first time athletes from the North have crossed the border since 2018. Naegohyang won 2-1 in their semi-final against South Korea's Suwon, earning them a place in the Asian Women's Champions League final. , earning them a place in the Asian Women's Champions League final. The North Korean team will face Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza during the final on Saturday at the same stadium. Within hours of going on sale, more than 7,000 tickets for the rare North-South semi-final at Suwon Sports Complex sold out. But with relations between the two countries in a deep freeze, BBC Seoul Correspondent Jake Kwon looks at whether a football match could spark renewed diplomatic efforts. The escape of Neukgu, a two-year-old wolf, from a zoo in the city of Daejon captured national attention. K-pop stars BTS kicked off their marathon world tour in South Korea, with a heavy nod to their new album Arirang. The megastars kick off their grandest tour, the largest in K-pop history, in Seoul on Thursday after a nearly four-year hiatus. Some 260,000 fans are expected to watch BTS perform together on Saturday for the first time since 2022. Eleven people were killed and dozens injured when a huge blaze engulfed a car parts factory in the central city of Daejeon. 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