BIZARRE INTER-KOREAN SOCCER MATCH

[Anchor Lead]

South and North Korea held their qualifying match for the 2022 Qatar World Cup in Pyongyang on Tuesday. But the whole event was quite bizarre with no media, no broadcast, no reporters and not even a single North Korean audience watching the game in the stands. The decision to have no spectators was reportedly decided last month. What was North Korea's intention? We take a look.

[Pkg]

An inter-Korean football match took place in the North Korean capital for the first time in 29 years, and South Korea's Football Association busily moved about on the day of the game. This was because not one reporter from South Korea was present at the site to relay the ground action. What transpired this day was that the KFA passed on to South Korean media information it received from an official of the Asian Football Confederation who was on site at the Kim Il-sung Stadium.

[Soundbite] LEE JI-HUN(KOREA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION) : "The first half has ended."

How the match played out was intermittently conveyed through the AFC official and the final result was a scoreless draw. It wasn't only the media that was absent this day. There weren't any spectators in the 40-thousand seat stadium. This unprecedented event of having no spectators was confirmed just before the match began. North Korea did not discuss this matter even with the Asian Football Confederation. But this decision was known to have been made last month. This is why related travel products for foreign tourists had been canceled and why a cheering squad from a pro-North Korean organization in Japan had also been turned down. The reason for the audience-free match is said to be that North Korea didn't want any elements that South Korea preferred. The North may not have wanted to suffer losing in front of 40-thousand spectators... nor showcase the South Korean players' performance to the North Korean public at a time when cross-border relations are strained.

[Soundbite] PROF. KIM YONG-HYEON(DONGGUK UNIVERSITY) : "Pyongyang is not displaying any effort to improve ties with Seoul even through an international sporting event. Difficult political relations between the two Koreas are also impacting sports."

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who earlier proposed a joint inter-Korean hosting of the 2023 Women's World Cup, was in Pyongyang to watch the match. Considering the high-profile guest, pundits speculate a no-spectator game would not have been possible without a decision by the North Korean leader.