North Korea turns U-17 women’s soccer triumph into propaganda blitz
North Korea is aggressively exploiting its under-17 women’s soccer team’s Asian Cup triumph for propaganda, turning the U-17 women’s soccer victory into fuel for an upcoming party meeting. The ruling party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, which controls all ideological
Daily NK
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North Korea is aggressively exploiting its under-17 women’s soccer team’s Asian Cup triumph for propaganda, turning the U-17 women’s soccer victory into fuel for an upcoming party meeting.
The ruling party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, which controls all ideological messaging in North Korea, ordered party organizations nationwide to launch a sweeping propaganda campaign built around the team’s championship at the 2026 Asian Football Confederation U-17 Women’s Asian Cup, a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said on Wednesday. The campaign has been in full swing since early June.
Propaganda materials distributed across the country recount the team’s run in detail. The team won its group stage matches 10-0, 8-0 and 3-0 to top its group, then crushed its quarterfinal opponent 6-0.
The materials also celebrate the hard-fought semifinal. Yu Jong Hyang opened the scoring in the 28th minute and Ri Kyong Im added a second in the 33rd. After the opponent drew level, Yu struck again in the 65th and 75th minutes to complete a hat trick and seal a 4-2 win.
In the final, the team overwhelmed Japan 5-1. The propaganda materials boast that Japan had not conceded a single goal in the entire tournament before the final.
The victory gave North Korea its fifth title in the competition. The materials also trumpet a sweep of the tournament’s major honors. Yu took both the most valuable player and top scorer awards, goalkeeper Kim Son Gyong won the best goalkeeper award, and the team received the fair play award.
Luxury apartments for players, posters for the masses
The propaganda materials note that every player received a personal letter of thanks in the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while the party’s Central Committee sent letters of appreciation to the players’ families. The players also reportedly received certificates for top-grade Pyongyang apartments along with home appliances and other lavish gifts.
The Propaganda and Agitation Department ordered posters and visual displays celebrating the championship to be put up not only in Pyongyang but in factories, enterprises and farms across the country.
The source said the campaign’s real aim is to spur achievements in first-half economic work. Those results will feature prominently at the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, a high-level party meeting scheduled for late June.
“The Propaganda and Agitation Department ordered that the soccer team’s fighting spirit be actively used as an ideological education tool to build momentum for the plenary session,” the source said. “Propaganda framing the team’s success as a ‘victory of collectivism’ continues daily, pressing every workplace to display the same collectivist spirit and deliver results for the June plenum.”
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