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North Korea plays Lebanon during a 2022 World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang on Sept. 5. (AFC website)
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North still hasn’t granted permission to s. Korean reporters and videographers
South Korean reporters and videographers are waiting with bated breath for permission to travel to North Korea for a game between the South and North Korean football teams. The game, which will be the second Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, is taking place at Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang at 5:30 pm on Oct. 15, but as of Oct. 13, authorization had not been granted. “On the afternoon of Oct. 11, we received a message from the North Korean football association stating that visas would be granted for the 55 people on the South Korean athletic contingent [25 athletes and 30 staff]. Given the lack of a response about the media team, we emailed them back on the same day, but the only reply we got yesterday was about the team,” a source with the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Sunday. The KFA had submitted visa applications to North Korea after setting up a media team consisting of 18 individuals from newspapers, broadcasters, and news websites through deliberations with the Unification Ministry and other South Korean government agencies. But the North Korean football association would only say that it doesn’t have the authority to allow media personnel into the North. The Unification Ministry has also repeatedly asked the North Koreans to grant a visit by South Korean reporters and fans, but they haven’t gotten any response. No live broadcast; only written messages announcing game’s progress The game will not be broadcasted directly to South Korean viewers. Instead, media crew in Pyongyang will relay the broadcast to the South Korean Unification Ministry, who will then relay it to the KFA using a combination of the internet, international telephone calls, and a direct inter-Korean hotline. The manual of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) states that countries hosting games, including qualifying rounds for the World Cup, must issue visas to reporters from the visiting country and allow them to visit. But North Korea has ignored repeated requests for cooperation from the AFC and hasn’t even provided a definite reason for its refusal. However, a source from the KFA said that reporters from foreign media in certain countries, including Germany, had apparently been granted permission to cover the game in Pyongyang. In April 2017, a team of South Korean reporters traveled to Pyongyang to cover a qualifying round in the AFC Asian Cup between the South and North Korean female teams. The South Korean football team, under head coach Paulo Bento, was planning to fly to Beijing on China Airlines Flight 126 from Incheon, arriving at 5:50 pm on Oct. 13, and then reach Pyongyang at 1:25 pm on Oct. 14 via China Airlines Flight 121 out of Beijing. The 30 staff members who will be traveling to North Korea for the game include KFA Chairman Chung Mong-gyu and KFA Vice Chairman Choe Yeong-il. The Pyongyang match has received international attention, since it represents the first time in the 29 years that the South and North Korean male football teams have competed there since Oct. 11, 1990. By Kim Kyung-moo, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
