One-sided announcement of forming a 'joint support group' for North and South Korea, SuwonFC Wi-min and supporters state: "No consultation took place"

*This content was translated by AI.

Regarding the announcement by civic groups of a 'joint support' plan for SuwonFC Wi-min and Naegohyang Women's Football Team (North Korea), SuwonFC club and supporter representatives stated, "No consultation has taken place."

A SuwonFC club official told StarNews on the 14th, immediately after the announcement of the formation of the 'SuwonFC Wi-min and Naegohyang Women's Football Joint Support Group' by civic groups, stating, "The club has not held any separate consultations regarding the joint support group." The official added, "We understand that the supporter group, which received contact from the joint support organization, firmly stated they would support 'our team' (not the joint support)."

In fact, SuwonFC supporter group Fortress also announced on its official social media (SNS) today that "this article was reported without consultation between the club and the supporters."

Accordingly, SuwonFC supporters plan to take their seats in the stands as usual and support only 'SuwonFC Wi-min.' Since this was not an event-style match, it was reported that supporting the opposing team was never part of the supporters' plans from the outset. This is a perfectly commonsense decision.

The supporter group had already stated the day before, "SuwonFC Wi-min should be respected as a football team, not as a target of politics or ideology," and "We will proceed with support for SuwonFC alone, without any diplomatic issues or political derogation, just as usual."

However, the day after this statement was released, news of the one-sided formation of a 'joint support group' by civic groups was conveyed, increasing the likelihood that on the 20th, when the 2025-2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Champions League (AWCL) semi-final between SuwonFC Wi-min and Naegohyang takes place at Suwon Sports Complex, the support from SuwonFC supporters and the joint support from civic groups will be mixed.

For SuwonFC Wi-min club and fans, this is a situation where they are challenging for their first-ever championship by reaching the semi-finals of this tournament. However, public interest is focused not on SuwonFC Wi-min's journey but on the 'opposing team,' Naegohyang. Furthermore, the recent announcement that the government will support private organizations that cheer for Naegohyang rather than SuwonFC Wi-min with 300 million won in North-South Cooperation Funds has sparked another controversy within the football community and among fans.

Regarding the controversy over government support for organizations cheering for the North Korea team, the civic group side explained, "The formation of the support group was not requested by the government but was initiated by private organizations first and then negotiated with the government." They added, "Some media reports may be misleading. Our support group cheers for the success of both teams, not a specific team."

Meanwhile, the North-South Cooperation Civic Group Council (Beokminhyeop), the National Council for National Reconciliation and Cooperation (Minhwahyeop), Citizen Peace Forum, Independent Peace and Unification Alliance, The Hankyoreh Unification Culture Foundation, and over 200 other organizations announced that they decided to form a 'SuwonFC Wi-min and Naegohyang Women's Football Joint Support Group' after two meetings held on the 11th and 13th.

These organizations stated, "We aim to contribute to the successful holding of this tournament (AWCL) and raise interest in women's football. Regardless of the outcome, we will cheer hard to realize the two great spirits of sports, fair play and peace." They also announced that the scale of the semi-final support group will be approximately 3,000 people.

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*This content was translated by AI.