Amidst the COVID pandemic, the North Korean Football Federation made their decision to withdraw from the World Cup 2022 Qualifiers where their remaining group matches were to be played in South Korea. This followed up with a complete stop to their competing in international football and hence all their players and leagues went into total obscurity. This was until the second half of 2023 when North Korea returned to the international scene at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held in China and we got to see the return of North Korea sport including their U23 Men's national team, and the Women's national team.

The U23 Men's squad fell to eventual runners-up Japan 2-1 in the quarter-final in a very heated match while the Women's squad ended runners-up after a 4-1 defeat to Japan. And while it wasn't a standard the Chollima hoped to end their campaign at, it set up for an exciting anticipation for the Men's senior team to return to the scene in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Syria.

Their qualifying campaign started with a roadblock when they lost 1-0 to Syria in Jeddah after a silly foul by goalkeeper Kang Ju-hyok and despite persistence by the North Koreans, they failed to make a mark on Ibrahim Alma's goal. The second game against Myanmar however, was a much better result winning 6-1 in Yangon with the return of a very special youngster.

Before getting into what's new, I just want to reiterate the level of this team compared to the jokes made about them. North Korea might not be the powerhouses of Asia, but they're good. Their league champions had a dominating campaign in the 2019 AFC Cup that saw April 25 conceding only 9 goals in the entire tournament as they fell short to Lebanese side Al-Ahed in Kuala Lumpur. Bare in mind that compared to their competitors, they didn't have the luxury of foreign players and had to play with a full squad of locals.

Right before COVID struck, North Korea were on 7 points in the World Cup qualifiers - a good showing when you consider they had to play North Korea and Lebanon (who they were thrashed 4-1 in the 2019 Asian Cup earlier that year. Albeit, the home advantage in North Korea was a strong weapon they used to throw their competitors off their game.

And, no. The players do not get exiled, or sent to whatever camps people assume when they lose. Multiple players have starred for the national team despite heavy thrashings and some players are of Japanese descent which erases any possibility of these players going missing in their playing careers.

Back to the updates.

The coach

Before the pandemic, the national team's manager was Yun Jong-su who was also a former player but as of now, he has been replaced by former international Sin Yong-nam who took charge of the U23 team for the Asian Games. I'm not an expert at tactics but it does look like he enjoys a bit of attacking football with a mix of defensive stability.

Who starts in goal?

Up until the Asian Cup campaign in 2019, North Korea had their custodian in legend Ri Myong-guk who is their current all time appearance maker at 118. He was the captain of the national team up until around 2018 when Jong Il-gwan took the helm. He has since retired and took the role as a goalkeeper coach at his homeboy club Pyongyang SC (whom he spent his entire career at). Since then An Tae-song presumably replaced Ri. Fun fact, An is also notoriously known for his red card against Al-Ahed in the AFC Cup 2019 final that would ultimately lead to his club's defeat.

However, in this international window the April 25 'keeper is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Hwaebul's Kang Ju-hyok was called up in his stead. He's a decent goalkeeper in all fairness, but his aggressiveness when sweeping lets the team down when he decides to make some questionable decisions. Regardless, the former youth international seems determined to make the starting spot his and it might be some time before we see An back in the fray. Speaking of Hwaebul...

A new captain... again?

North Korea seems to have a thing for changing their captains every few years. Not because of retirement, the reasons seem unknown. I theorise it might be to bring in new blood for leadership as it was the case when Ri handed the armband to Jong as the former retired a couple of years later. This time, Jong hands it to Hwaebul's Jang Kuk-chol. (I realise later this might not be the case as Jang and Jong are two years apart but this seems to make the most sense to me.)

Jang is no stranger to international football. He was part of the Hwaebul squad who competed in the 2018 AFC Cup. Having made his international debut as an 18-year-old in 2011, he has amassed 61 appearances as of now and 5 goals to his name. He's what I'd consider a no-nonsense defender purely due to his aura but I can say for certain that he has a knack for going up top and scoring. I mean it. Look at his dummy, bicycle-kick attempt, and header.

If you were to ask me, who's a better captain? Jang or Jong. As much as I really love Jong, Jang Kuk-chol seems the perfect fit. Jong is a very softspoken player compared to Jang. He definitely is a leader on the pitch but off it, he's very quiet compared to Jang who's a vocal player and doesn't stray away from letting the referee knows his thoughts, although the way he does it can be a bit too aggressive...

Yes. Jang was also part of the U23 squad as one of the three overaged players as captain and was part of the controversy when remonstrating against the referee. Despite this, it seems like he knows where to draw the line as he can be seen pushing his teammates away alongside with the team's staff. Peep Kang Ju-hyok whom we mentioned earlier getting in the action as well.

Jong Il-gwan

It wouldn't be a North Korean football post if I didn't mention my favourite player from the Chollima. Rimyongsu's Jong Il-gwan is currently the nation's top scorer with 29 goals. In fact, he was part of a joke by a fellow redditor who made up transfer news and is even talked about on his Wikipedia page. Needless to say, he did get his move to Europe in Switzerland where he only managed 211 minutes for Luzern before sent to a pretty unsuccessful loan move to FC Wil. He did score a pretty neat goal from range though.

Why is he my favourite player? Because he's good. That's literally it. He's a player from the hermit kingdom who deserved to have a decent career in Europe like Pak Kwang-ryong and Han Kwang-song. He was in the top 10 of North Korean footballers in 2019. He also won his club's first ever silverware in the Hwaebul Cup with a last minute winner against domestic giants April 25. He was awarded Man of the Match in two 2022 World Cup qualifying games and he's one of the running gears for the team.

He has a vision for a pass, and is great and running into space. A left footer, he's also capable with his right and is able to dribble past defenders with ease. He also has a real knack for scoring his free kicks such as this stunner against China. If you search his name up on YouTube, you can find a couple of highlights that show how great he is in this side.

Oh, and he scored a hattrick vs Myanmar just yesterday and contributed to winning a penalty. That was his first international hattrick. Highlights can be found here. As we are on the topic of attackers, let's talk about the two the internet had been raging about.

Pak and Han are back

I'm sure at one point we all heard about a North Korea playing his trade in Austria and a North Korean wonderkid making his way up in Italy. Well, they're back.

Pak Kwang-ryong spent nearly a decade playing his trade in Europe in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Austria where he spent 3 years playing for St. Polten scoring 13 goals and assisting 9 in 58 games. A strong presence in the box, Pak is what I'd consider the traditional target man who loves to find his way in the box, especially with his head. He also scored a decent free kick against Lebanon in the 2019 Asian Cup.

Han Kwang-song had the media after him when he became the first North Korean to play in Europe's top five leagues when he signed for Cagliari in 2017. He scored 12 goals and assisted 6 in 51 gamesfor both Cagliari and Perugia before he made the shock transfer to Juventus on a loan move where he turned up for the U23 squad. He ended up signing for them permanently but was then shipped off to Qatar's Al-Duhail in less than a week where he registered 3 goals and 1 assist for them as they won the league.

However, due to UN Sanctions amidst North Korea's nuclear testing, Pak and Han were to be deported back to North Korea as they fell under workers whose salary went towards the regime's nuclear testing program. To make matters worse, COVID had struck then. While it was unclear whether Pak was able to be sent back home in time, it was confirmed that Han could NOT return to his country as North Korea shut down their borders. This led to him living in the North Korean embassy in Italy and with restrictions placed on him playing professional football, Han could only train with a small team and thus started a long three to four years of no competitive football for him and perhaps Pak too.

That ended with the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Han started against Syria while Pak came on in the same game.

While it was to be expected that the pair would have a slow start back into competitive football, Han had a good game while Pak had a decent showing and the two would play the next game against Myanmar as well. Han scored a header after pouncing on Choe Ok-chol's cross. Han's celebration as he scored his first international goal since the pandemic (second overall) was a pretty emotional one and out of all the players he celebrated with, he embraced a hug with only Pak who also endured the same struggles he did.

As both are obviously really talented players, I can only hope that they're playing for a title contending team like April 25. It's going to be some time until we see them in action vs Japan in 2024 but I hope this gave you a bit of pub trivia and learnt a bit more on one of the most obscured national teams in the world!