Why is North Korea's women's football team so good

North Korea's women have won another U-20 World Cup. It's their third to date, meaning they join Germany and the United States as the only three-time champions of the tournament. In 2024, North Korea's women have also won the U17 and U19 Asian championships, and in October, their U17 team won their third World Cup.

What is it that makes a state that, according to the United Nations, "does not have any parallel in the contemporary world" so good at youth football?

"International sport is one of the few ways to demonstrate their sovereignty, existence and identity to the international community, so this type of big success, from their point of view, is an important occasion where they can wave their national flag in front of the international audience," Dr Jung Woo Lee, a senior lecturer in Sport and Leisure Policy at the University of Edinburgh, told DW.

"At the same time, domestically, North Korea often uses sport as their propaganda tool to glorify their leaders and also how great their country is."

A clear and conscious strategy

Football is popular in the country, but recognizing that the gap to the top in senior football is much harder to close than in youth football, North Korea's leaders turned to women's youth football, where the gap is more manageable. It's also why success at this level hasn't benefited the senior team over the years. This strategy is not about pathways. It's about winning.

"The gap between established and developing clubs is also high because in many European countries, there is a professional league, and they get more support from a number of different stakeholders," Lee said. 

"In youth football, I think European sport organizations highlight more on having fun when playing football. Whereas in North Korea, even if you are 13 or 14 years old, they join very highly disciplined, highly systematic and highly professionalized training regimes, so in early ages they can excel."

This year shows as much, and it's why in Colombia this summer,  North Korea's U20 women were able to beat Argentina 6-2 and Costa Rica 9-0, as well assecure three straight 1-0 victories, including against the United States, from the quarterfinals onwards to win the World Cup. In the U17 World Cup, the team also won 1-0 in both the quarter and semifinals, the latter against the US, before beating Spain on penalties in the final.

With the help of the Pyongyang International Football School where young girls are selected, developed and educated following a highly disciplined and scientific approach, North Korea has seen an opportunity and taken it.

Regime positioning, life-changing rewards

In the eyes of North Korea, this is also a victory for the communist regime.

"You need to remember that North Korea still maintains a very strong socialist and communist regime," Lee explained. "Particularly under Kim Jong Un, they try to compare capitalist and communist regimes and show the communist regime as superior to the capitalist. Also, when I look at some of the news reports about the North Korean performance in North Korean media, they highlighted that because they are (under) the communist regime, they do whatever they can, even if they're physically exhausted.

"Then they directly compare those mentalities with capitalist countries. In capitalism, when athletes are physically exhausted and injured, there is no way to perform. They need to be changed by their coach. But in socialist systems their will is more important than (a) professional opinion from the coach or any medical staff. So North Korea frames that as a superior system."

That psychological element has seemingly given the team an edge, but beyond a strong sense of patriotism and years of disciplined work lies the motivation of a life-changing reward.

"Although we often see North Korea as quite underdeveloped and very much agricultural and people experiencing hardship, those living in Pyongyang are quite different. They are kind of special," Lee explained.

As an incentive, he said, the regime can give players living outside the capital residence certificates, which are required to enter Pyongyang. At the same time, many players have been given apartments. 

This motivation is not to be underestimated. Life in rural North Korea is tough, with shortages in food and health care reportedly common. Living in the big city is quite different. 

"This is a way to change their life. It's kind of winning a lottery in a way," Lee explained.

What next for talented generation?

For Choe Il-son — who played in both U17 and U20 tournament and had a breakout performance in the former — the instinctive reaction is to wonder which WSLor NWSL team will be trying to sign her, but that would be to forget the context in which she both lives and plays.

"I don't think it's impossible, but not so easy," Lee said of the idea of Choe Il-son playing abroad. 

"First of all, (there are) the economic sanctions now imposed on North Korea," he said. "And also, whenever North Korean players joined a European league — there were a few occasions in basketball where any salary was not sent to the individual account of the players or the agent, but it goes to North Korea's government account, so I think that's another complexity involved."

While much about this team, like the country, remains a mystery, there is no denying that success at the youth level has always been the plan.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

This article was updated to reflect North Korea's U17 World Cup win in October.