Japan’s national soccer team will face the North Korean national team in a World Cup qualifier match on November 15th. The match will be held in Pyongyang. It normally would be unthinkable for Japanese people to travel to North Korea and cheer against North Korea, but the DPRK has made a special exception and will allow a special group tour to attend the match :
Nishitetsu Travel, which is organizing the Japan Football Association’s official tour, said it had 94 internet applications by Thursday evening’s deadline and has started contacting the 65 spectators, who were selected based in order of applications and other factors.
The tour, which has been given special government approval and costs around 290,000 yen, will arrive in Pyongyang on Nov. 14 via Beijing and return to Japan’s Haneda airport the day after the game.
Japanese Foreign Ministry staff will be on hand to help provide security. Because Japan does not have official relations with North Korea, it will be the first time Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have visited North Korea since the abductee issue exploded to the surface in 2004.
At least one guy doesn’t like this new development. Here he is, in a Youtube video of his one man protest outside of the offices of Nishitetsu Travel :
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