PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) – So you believe sports is a path to peace? If so, Pyongyang was the wrong place to be Friday, as the two Koreas – technically at war for nearly 70 years – faced off in a rare soccer match.
On the field, Korean women fought to a 1-1 draw. But in the stands, more than 40,000 fans made clear the game didn’t reflect a thaw in deeply troubled inter-Korean relations.
There was the sound of tens of thousands of voices singing in praise of the North Korean fatherland. There were Pyongyang university students shouting slogans in near-perfect unison. There was a low rumble of discontent any time a South Korean player touched the ball.
And from the South Korean fans? Well, if there were any in Kim Il Sung stadium they were keeping very quiet.
Amid global nervousness that North Korea may be about to test its sixth nuclear device, and as more than 200,000 South Korean and American soldiers held their annual joint military exercises, a soccer match in Pyongyang – along with an inter-Korean ice hockey game held the same day in South Korea – wasn’t bringing brotherhood any time soon to the Korean Peninsula.