Six minutes. That is all it took for North Korea to announce themselves at the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Midfielder Myong Yu Jong, 22, turned sharply inside the penalty area and fired home after a well-worked move down the right, and just like that, the Eastern Azaleas were back.
Their 3-0 Group B victory over Uzbekistan at Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta on Tuesday afternoon was more than a football result. It was the close of a remarkable chapter of absence and the opening of what could be an even more remarkable return. North Korea had not played at a Women's Asian Cup since 2010, a gap of 16 years shaped by doping bans, failed qualification campaigns, and COVID-enforced isolation from international competition.
The road to Parramatta was not straightforward. As ABC News reports, five North Korean players tested positive to prohibited substances at the 2011 Women's World Cup, resulting in a ban from the 2014 Asian Cup and the 2015 World Cup. The team then failed to qualify in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic sealed off further international football for several years. That the Eastern Azaleas walked onto the pitch looking so composed was, in itself, a minor footballing marvel.
Myong wasted no time building on that early opener. She converted penalties in the 24th and 41st minutes to complete a first-half hat-trick, with Uzbekistan's replacement goalkeeper Zarina Saidova, thrust into action after starter Maftuna Jonimqulova was stretchered off with a neck injury in the opening exchanges, left to collect the ball from her net three times before the break. According to ABC News, Jonimqulova's tournament may well be over.
The numbers from the first half were startling. North Korea held roughly 78 per cent possession across the match, according to ESPN's match data, and Uzbekistan failed to manage a single shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes. The Eastern Azaleas' passing was intricate and relentless, moving in compact triangles through midfield and consistently finding pockets of space the Uzbek defence could not close.
In fairness to the 49th-ranked Uzbeks, they reorganised impressively after the break. A far more disciplined defensive shape kept North Korea scoreless in the second half, and while a 3-0 loss is never something to celebrate, there was genuine tactical progress across the 90 minutes. For a side returning to the Women's Asian Cup after 23 years away, as reported by ABC News, the second-half display offered reason for cautious optimism ahead of their remaining group games.
The deeper story behind this North Korean squad is one of deliberate, long-term state investment in women's football. According to ABC News, that investment stretches back to 1986, when North Korean delegates witnessed FIFA's commitment to a women's World Cup and returned home intent on building a genuine powerhouse. Formal football education in schools, a broad scouting network, and elite full-time training at the Pyongyang International Football School have been the pillars of that programme ever since. The results speak for themselves: three Women's Asian Cup titles between 2001 and 2008.
The current squad is built largely on the foundation of those junior structures. Coach Ri Song-ho guided this same group to the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup title in 2024, and ABC News reports that only three players in North Korea's 2026 Asian Cup squad are aged over 24. Three members of the U20 World Cup-winning side started against Uzbekistan on Tuesday. That is not a team in transition; that is a team peaking at precisely the right moment.
Coach Ri was candid with journalists after the final whistle. Speaking through a translator, he said the gap between his starting eleven and the substitutes was "bigger than I expected" — a comment that reveals just how high the standards are within this squad, even in a game won comfortably. Star striker Kim Kyong-yong, who boasts 26 goals in 18 international appearances according to ABC News, had a quiet afternoon and was withdrawn on the hour. Nineteen-year-old Choe Il-son, top scorer at last year's U20 World Cup, did not come off the bench at all.
The attendance of around 1,268 at Western Sydney Stadium was modest, the kind of crowd that rattles around a big venue and makes the silences between passages of play feel oddly hollow. But those who were there, including a small but vocal contingent of North Korean supporters, watched something genuinely worth watching. The Asian Football Confederation tournament doubles as qualification for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, raising the stakes for every side in the draw. North Korea's next assignment is Group B rivals China on 9 March at the same venue, a contest that could define which team goes deep into the knockout rounds.
Sixteen years is a long time in football. Based on what unfolded in Parramatta on Tuesday, the wait for the Eastern Azaleas' opponents may only be beginning.