North Korea has denied press coverage requests from Korean-affiliated media and Japanese journalists before the World Cup qualifier between North Korea and Japan in Pyongyang.
North Korea and Japan will play the fourth match of Group B of the second round of the 2026 FIFA North Central America World Cup Asian qualifiers at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang at 5 PM on the 26th. They will have a third match in Japan on the 21st.
It’s been five years since the North Korean national soccer team played a home match, the last against South Korea in the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup second-round qualifier on October 15, 2019.
Just as South Korea did five years ago, Japan faces numerous restrictions and confusion ahead of their away match in North Korea.
The Japanese media Sankei Shimbun reported on the 19th that “28 Japanese journalists applied for reporting on the Japanese national team’s expedition to North Korea, but six media outlets, including the Sankei Shimbun, which includes a third-generation ethnic Korean journalist, and those affiliated with Korean and American journalists, were denied entry into North Korea.”
The media outlet added, “North Korea didn’t even explain why they rejected it. But the only explanation for being rejected despite meeting all the detailed document standards requested by North Korea is that it’s related to Korea and the U.S.”
Even during the South-North match in 2019, Korean journalists weren’t permitted to visit Pyongyang. Also, due to UN sanctions against North Korea, they couldn’t buy broadcasting rights, so the match proceeded as a “blackout match,” during which they couldn’t check the game situation in real time.
It’s the same this time. Japan will also not have real-time broadcasting to the home country and will later be provided with edited footage by North Korea.
The Japanese media “Football Zone” conveyed, “The expedition to North Korea is not easy. You have to approach this expedition with the mindset of ‘going to space’ if you think about the expedition to Pyongyang in 2011.”
Meanwhile, Japan is leading Group B in the second round of the North Central America World Cup qualifiers with two wins (6 points), while North Korea is in second place with one win and one loss (3 points).