Members of a North Korean women’s soccer team appeared before foreign news reporters in a rare press conference Tuesday in Suwon city, South Korea, ahead of the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League’s semifinal match against their South Korean counterparts.

Head coach Ri Yu Il of the Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women’s Football Club took several questions from reporters during the roughly eight-minute press conference, limiting his answers to the upcoming game against South Korea’s Suwon FC women’s soccer club scheduled late Wednesday.

“We came here for the match,” Ri said in response to a question about the roughly 3,000