North Korea’s women’s soccer teams have been on a tear in recent years.

Youth squads have won the under-17 World Cup twice and the under-20 World Cup once. The national team had a mixed run at the recent Asian Football Confederation tournament but still qualified for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year. All of this success has raised questions about how a small, economically weak country of 25 million has become such a dominant soccer force.

As it turns out, a factor in their success has come from an unlikely source — a South Korean businessman.

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