A South Korean youth football delegation enters the immigration office in Paju, north of Seoul, Friday, to cross the inter-Korean border by using a land route on the western part of the peninsula to attend an international youth football event set for Aug. 13 to 18 in Pyongyang. Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Young South Korean football players arrived in North Korea to take part in an international youth football event starting Wednesday, according to South Korean media going with them, Sunday.

Some 150 people, including athletes, journalists and other culture exchange members, arrived at Yanggakdo International Hotel Pyongyang on Friday night after crossing into North Korea on a land route by bus.

Using the land route comes seven years after a South Korean delegation last visited the North to express condolences to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2011. Also, it is the first time for such a large number of civilians to visit North Korea by using the land route since President Moon Jae-in took office last year.

Over 240 young players from six countries ― the two Koreas, China, Russia, Uzbekistan and Belarus ― were put in eight groups for the friendly competition. The South's delegation plans to come back to Seoul on Aug. 19.

Known as the Ari Sports Cup, the U-15 football competition was first held in South Korea's border village of Yeoncheon in 2014. This year's event will mark the fourth of its kind following that of Pyongyang in 2015 and Kunming in China in 2017.

The event, which had been set originally for June, has been forced to be delayed because of rising geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, a group of North Korean laborers participated in an amity inter-Korean workers' football game on Saturday held in Seoul. The 64-member North Korean delegation arrived Friday for three days.