The two Koreas technically remain at war after their 1950–53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and sporting and cultural exchanges between them are very rare.

The ministry said North Korean authorities sent the South a “notification of a 39-member delegation” from Naegohyang Women’s FC, who will play the South’s Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The delegation will include 27 players and 12 club staff, the ministry said. It did not say when exactly the team would arrive in South Korea.

The winner of the match will play the final of Asia’s top women’s club competition on May 23 against either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza.

“The losing team in the semi-final will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no third-place playoff scheduled,” the ministry said in a press release.

The match will be the first time a North Korean sports team has played in the South since shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations travelled there in 2018.

The last time Pyongyang sent a women’s football team to the South was in 2014, when the North Korean national team took part at the Asian Games in Incheon.

North Korea’s national team is one of the dominant forces in Asian women’s football, winning multiple international titles in recent years, especially at youth level.

The most recent one came in November last year, when they defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the final of the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup.