Players from Naegohyang Women's Football Club wave the North Korean flag and circle the pitch after winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League final against Tokyo Verdy Beleza at Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon's Jangan-gu on May 23. [Yonhap]
Players from Naegohyang Women's Football Club wave the North Korean flag and circle the pitch after winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League final against Tokyo Verdy Beleza at Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon's Jangan-gu on May 23. [Yonhap]

The Ministry of Unification spent 235 million won ($158,000) from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund on event operations and civilian joint cheering activities during North Korean women's club soccer team Naegohyang Women's Football Club's visit to South Korea in May, according to a settlement report released Monday.

The ministry reported the "Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund settlement results related to the North Korean delegation's participation" to the National Assembly on Monday and made the findings public.

The ministry spent 148.74 million won supporting joint cheering squads organized by civilian groups.

The breakdown of cheering squad support costs includes ticket purchases of 25.24 million won (3,048 tickets for the semifinal and 2,000 for the final), cheering supplies and snacks at 59.1 million won, and cheering event operations at 64.4 million won.

The cheering event operations costs covered the running of operational booths, cheer leading, service agency fees and value-added tax.

An additional 84.55 million won was allocated as "event operations expenses" to cover costs incurred during the North Korean women's team's visit.

That amount went toward LED display board and vehicle rentals, event supplies including rain ponchos, and honoraria for civilian event coordinators affiliated with civic organizations.

A further 2 million won was spent on accounting verification of the subsidy settlement report.

Civil society groups focused on inter-Korean exchange and cooperation organized joint cheering activities after Naegohyang Women's Football Club's entry into the 2025-2026 AFC Women's Champions League semifinal tournament was confirmed abruptly in early May, about two weeks before the matches in Suwon.

The government determined that supporting the joint cheering activities for the North Korean team's participation in matches in South Korea would contribute to mutual understanding between the two Koreas, and decided to provide around 300 million won from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund under Article 8, Clause 6 of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund Act.

The ministry said the funds were disbursed in advance to the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Support Association in a provisional payment format — because the North Korean team's participation was decided abruptly and the scale of civilian involvement and event details could not be confirmed beforehand — with unspent amounts returned after the post-event settlement.

However, some critics argued it was inappropriate to use the tax-funded cooperation fund to support cheering for the North Korean women's soccer team.


moone@heraldcorp.com