SEOUL, Oct 15 (NNN-BERNAMA-YONHAP) — North Korea agreed to provide South Korea with a video of an inter-Korean World Cup qualifier to be held on Tuesday in Pyongyang, after Seoul’s push to televise the match live fell through, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting a South Korea’s unification ministry official.
The North promised to give the video to the South’s delegation before it departs from Pyongyang on Wednesday afternoon after the match to be held at 5.30 pm Tuesday. The delegation is scheduled to arrive back home via Beijing early Thursday.
South Korea had pushed for live broadcasting of Tuesday’s match, but negotiations with the North fell apart. The match represents the first such match since 1990, when the two Koreas held a friendly in the North Korean capital.
“We have been promised to receive a DVD containing footage of the game,” the ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity, adding that the file will be available to a South Korean audience after the footballers return home.
North Korea has stayed mum on Seoul’s repeated calls to allow South Korean spectators and reporters to visit Pyongyang for the upcoming match.
The official said that a press room has been set up in Kim Il Sung Stadium, where South Korean staff accompanying the players will be stationed to deliver relevant information during the game.
The South Korean team arrived in the North Korean capital Monday afternoon, after stopping over in Beijing, and spent an hour working out on the artificial grass at the stadium.
Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino will travel to Pyongyang to watch Tuesday’s inter-Korean football match, the official said, without providing other details on his trip to the North.
— NNN-BERNAMA-YONHAP
