North Korean Soccer Team to Enter Japan as "Exception" to Sanctions

PYONGYANG, JAPAN - FEB. 23: Japan said Tuesday it will allow the entry of North Korean women's soccer team for Olympic qualifying matches as "an exception" to a set of new sanctions Tokyo introduced following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and rocket launch. "In the international sports community, it is a widespread view that athletes should not be discriminated against by their nationality. Taking this into account, we exceptionally decided to accept special circumstances," Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, told a press conference. The national team's trip to Osaka via Beijing comes after Japan decided last week on a fresh round of sanctions on North Korea for conducting a fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and launching a long-range rocket, widely viewed as a test of ballistic missile technology, on Feb. 7 in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The sanctions include a ban on North Korean ships and nationals entering Japan. The soccer team is hoping to enter Japan by Thursday to play in the final Asian qualifying round for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games this summer, according to a government source. Permission is likely to be granted by that day. On Tuesday, members of the North Korean team, wearing red coats, left Pyongyang's international airport for Beijing, where the Japanese Embassy is expected to issue visas for them. Asian qualifying games will kick off in Osaka next Monday in a six-team round-robin tournament, with Australia, China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Vietnam competing for two places at the 2016 Olympics. The match between Japan and North Korea, which do not have diplomatic relations, is set for March 9. -- members of North Korean women's football team departing from pyongyang airport