North Korea at Asian Games 2026: Entry Still in Question
North Korea plans to send around 150 athletes to Aichi-Nagoya — but Japan’s entry ban on North Korean nationals means participation itself isn’t guaranteed. Here’s what’s confirmed so far.
North Korea’s Asian Games Track Record
North Korea’s medal totals have held remarkably steady across the last two editions, despite a multi-year absence from international sport during COVID-era border closures.
| Edition | Rank | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Jakarta-Palembang | 10th | 12 | 12 | 13 | 37 |
| 2022/23 Hangzhou | 10th | 11 | 18 | 10 | 39 |
Source: North Korea at the 2018 Asian Games and North Korea at the 2022 Asian Games, Wikipedia.
North Korea’s Strongest Sports
Weightlifting has been North Korea’s largest medal producer by a wide margin — 8 of its 12 golds at the 2018 Games came from weightlifting alone. Gymnastics (especially women’s vault and uneven bars), wrestling, boxing (particularly women’s), judo, shooting, table tennis, and women’s football round out its traditional strengths.
North Korea’s Official Squads by Sport
No individual athlete has been officially named to North Korea’s 2026 Games roster as of this research — North Korean and Games organizers have historically released named rosters only weeks before competition. What follows is real, recent (2025) competition data showing North Korea’s strongest current athletes in its core sports, alongside the confirmed team-level participation details that do exist.
Confirmed via official/state media sources
| Sport | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Football (Men’s) | Drawn into Group B with China, Iran, and the UAE | Team Confirmed |
| Football (Women’s) | Drawn into Group F with South Korea, Bangladesh, and Myanmar; match set for September 21, 2026 in Osaka — a rematch of their 2023 meeting | Team Confirmed |
| Overall Delegation | Choson Sinbo, a Japan-based pro-Pyongyang outlet considered to reflect North Korea’s official position, reports a team of roughly 150 athletes across 17 sports/events, likely including football, weightlifting, judo, and wrestling “and other fields” | Reported |
Reported/likely candidates based on 2025 results, not confirmed as Games selections
| Sport | Athlete | Recent Form |
|---|---|---|
| Weightlifting | Song Kuk-hyang | Women’s 69kg world champion with 3 world records at the 2025 IWF World Championships; also the reigning 2023 Asian Games champion (76kg) |
| Weightlifting | Pang Un-chol | Bronze at the 2025 World Championships, men’s 60kg |
| Wrestling (Freestyle) | Han Chong-song | Gold at both the 2025 Asian and World Championships, men’s 57kg |
| Wrestling (Freestyle) | Kim Ok-ju | Silver at both the 2025 World and Asian Championships, women’s 62kg |
| Boxing | Pang Chol-mi | Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist and 2025 world champion, women’s 52-54kg |
| Boxing | An Kum-byol | Bronze at the 2025 IBA Women’s World Championships, -50kg |
| Judo | Mun Song-hui | Silver at the 2024 Asian Championships and a 2024 Paris Olympian, women’s 70kg |
| Football (Women’s) | Kim Kyong-yong | Scored the winning goal and was named MVP as her club won the 2026 AFC Women’s Champions League |
| Gymnastics | An Chang-ok | Two-time individual gold medalist at the 2023 Hangzhou Games and a Paris 2024 Olympic finalist, though she did not appear at the 2025 World Championships |
No information found
| Sports |
|---|
| Table Tennis, Shooting, Diving, Archery, Artistic Swimming |
Storylines to Watch
Will North Korea even be allowed in? Japan has maintained a blanket entry ban on North Korean nationals since 2016 over missile and nuclear sanctions, and the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations. North Korea did not participate the last time Japan hosted the Asian Games, in Hiroshima in 1994. As of late 2025, Japan’s government was formally reviewing whether to grant entry exceptions for North Korea’s roughly 270-member delegation — this is the single biggest open question surrounding North Korea’s 2026 Games.
Inter-Korean football rematch. The two Koreas’ women’s teams will meet again in the group stage on September 21, 2026, continuing a storyline from their 2023 Hangzhou meeting — and coming just months after North Korea’s Naegohyang FC won the 2026 AFC Women’s Champions League on South Korean soil in front of a joint inter-Korean cheering section.
Weightlifting and wrestling depth. Song Kuk-hyang’s world-record-setting 2025 season and Han Chong-song’s double world-and-Asian titles suggest North Korea’s traditional medal engines remain strong heading into 2026, even without a confirmed roster yet.