Did they go this far to cheer for their hometown? Cheerleaders even appeared with 'Ministry of Unification support'... 'Self-organized' on-site staff alone numbered a staggering 50.

*This content was translated by AI.

A support group that claimed it would cheer for both teams fairly received hundreds of millions of won in funds from the government, yet on the field, it acted as a one-sided supporter of the North Korea team. In particular, a government-affiliated organization mobilized cheerleaders at the expense of public taxes to create an enthusiastic stage for the North Korea team.

The Nae-hyang Women's Football Team (North Korea) held on to a first and winning goal by Kim Kyung-yeong, scored in the 44th minute of the first half, to defeat Tokyo Verdy Beleza (Japan) 1-0 in the 2025-2026 AFC Women's Champions League (AWCL) final held at Suwon Sports Complex on the 23rd. With this result, Nae-hyang claimed the championship title along with a winning prize of 1 million dollars (approximately 1.52 billion won).

The background of Nae-hyang's victory that day was the one-sided cheering by a support group formed mainly by domestic civil organizations. Initially, they faced fierce public criticism after it was revealed that they were receiving about 300 million won in inter-Korean cooperation funds from the government.

Seemingly aware of this, the Joint Support Group clarified that they were an organization that cheers for both the home team and the North Korea team, but once the truth was revealed, the explanation proved meaningless as all the weight was placed solely on the North Korea team. Their bias was already serious, as they cheered as if they were at an away support section during the final moments of the semi-final match against Suwon FC Women when Ji So-yun missed a penalty kick, and even when Park Gil-young, the Suwon FC Women's coach, expressed his disappointment in a press conference.

The reality of government fund support, which was widely known from the time of the confirmed visit to the South, was even more blatantly revealed at the final match site. According to Suwon FC officials, the number of people who visited the stadium under the name of the Joint Support Group reached a staggering 1,800.

What organized these people was none other than a government-affiliated organization. According to a representative of the Association for Support of Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation who met with StarNews at the final match site, they set up and deployed a large-scale staff of 40 to 50 people on-site based on financial support from the Ministry of Unification. The staff attached papers with the phrase "On the way to cheer for the Joint Support Group~" at the stadium entrance and systematically distributed Nae-hyang support sticks to spectators.

Even more shocking was the fact that they hired dedicated cheerleaders to boost the morale of the North Korea team and held a cheering event. According to a representative of the Support Association, the costs for on-site staff recruitment and even the mobilization of cheerleaders were all executed with public taxes under the support of the Ministry of Unification. It was as if they attached a cheerleading squad funded by taxes to support the North Korea football team at the home stadium of the Republic of Korea.

Furthermore, the Joint Support Group side attempted to suddenly hang an unauthorized banner inside the stadium without prior approval but was stopped by the on-site security team. According to a representative, the banner was found to contain lyrics from the folk song "Spring in the Hometown," such as "My hometown is a mountain valley where flowers bloom." It was immediately collected by the security team.

With full support from the government and ignoring public criticism, the atmosphere in the support section was nothing like a North Korea home stadium. Banners welcoming the "Pyongyang Nae-hyang Women's Football Team's success" were plastered around the stadium, and the support section was filled with tools utilizing the Nae-hyang emblem. They shamelessly rewrote and sang the iconic slogan of the Republic of Korea national team, "Da~han Minguk," and the cheer song "O Pil-seung Korea" with the North Korea team's name. When Nae-hyang scored the first goal, they ran around the support section holding flags, and in the second half, they even performed a wave cheer.

However, the North Korea player squad, which received lavish treatment with public taxes, not only showed no gratitude but consistently maintained an arrogant attitude, thoroughly ignoring the Korean media. Coach Ri Yu-il became angry at the domestic media's use of the term "North side," unilaterally stopped the press conference, and left the scene in an undignified manner. Even in the mixed zone, when reporters tried to confirm the exact Korean name by calling out "Player Kim Kyung-yeong," they simply stared blankly, passed through the scene coldly without a single word of response, and refused to answer altogether.

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*This content was translated by AI.