The national football team of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) is the national team of North Korea and is managed by the DPR Korea Football Association. The team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup twice; in 1966, where they reached the quarter-finals, and for the forthcoming competition in 2010. Korea DPR have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup three times; in 1980, when they finished fourth, in 1992 and in 2011. The current team is composed of both native North Koreans and Zainichi Koreans born in Japan. Korea DPR had to enter the 2010 World Cup qualification from the first round, where they faced Mongolia.

On October 21, 2007 they beat the Mongolian opponents 4–1 in Ulan-Bator, with Pak Chol-Min scoring one goal and Jong Chol-Min adding a hat trick. One week later, on the 28th of October, the teams met again, this time at the Kim Il-Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. Korea DPR won the game with a score of 5–1. Pak Chol-Min opened the score after 3 minutes, Kim Kuk-Jin added another goal in the 10th minute. Jong Chol-Min, again Pak Chol-Min and Jong Kwang-Ik secured a 9–2 aggregate win for the DPRK to advance to the third round. At the third round, DPRK opened their campaign against Jordan in Amman. The visitors won the game 1–0 with Hong Yong-Jo scoring the winner after 44 minutes. The following matches, DPRK won against Jordan and Turkmenistan at home and tied Korea Republic both home and away to advance to the final round. The two Koreas faced each other in a 2010 FIFA World Cup 3rd round Asian Qualification match. It was originally planned to be held in Pyongyang on March 26, 2008. The North Korean government decided that the South's national anthem would not be played, nor would the DPRK allow the South's national flag to be displayed at the game. South Korea was outraged by the decision. After three failed negotiation attempts by the South Korean football association, South Korea turned to FIFA for the official ruling. After FIFA intervention, the match was played in Shanghai, China, on March 26, 2008, and it ended 0-0.[3] In the final round of qualifying, DPRK finished in second place in Group B behind leaders Korea Republic ahead of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In their first match, DPRK scored a valuable away win against the UAE. Against the run of play, DPRK scored two goals with Choe Kum Chol scoring in the 72nd minute and An Chol Hyok clinching the win in the 80th minute. Basheer Saeed scored a consolation goal for the hosts in the 85th minute.[4] The second match was the third encounter in qualifying against Korea Republic at the neutral venue of Shanghai which ended in a 1–1 draw, the third time in a row that the match ended in a draw between the two teams. Hong Yong-Jo converted a penalty to put the North Koreans ahead in the 63rd minute, but Ki Sung-Yeung equalised for the visitors five minutes later. [5][6] DPRK's unbeaten record in the final qualification stage came to an end with an away loss to Iran. Mehdi Mahdavikia headed the hosts into a ninth-minute lead when he picked up a pass from Mojtaba Jabbari from outside the penalty area. Javad Nekonam doubled up in the 65th minute when he latched onto team-mate Masoud Shojaei's pass, this time from inside the penalty area. Korea DPR's consolation goal came from a 70th-minute header from Jong Tae-Se.[7] In their fourth match against Saudi Arabia, Korea DPR underlined their status as Asia's dark horses by upsetting Saudi Arabia. Mun In-Guk scored the only goal in the first half, much to the delight of the 70,000-plus home crowd.[8] The result moved the North Koreans up to second in Pool B with seven points from four matches. North Korea's next win was against UAE which made them leaders of the group with 10 points. On April 1, the stalemate between the two Koreas was broken when DPRK lost 1-0 to their southern neighbours in a match held in Seoul.[9] The North Korean coach later suggested during a news conference that the South Koreans poisoned their squad.[10] A draw against Iran in Pyongyang complicated matters for Korea DPR who had 11 points from 7 matches and one game left to play.[11] A win against Saudi Arabia would earn them direct qualification, as would a tie (due to goal differential versus Saudi Arabia) so long as Iran drew or lost their last match. A loss would have meant they were at the mercy of the result in the Iran-South Korea game. On 17 June 2009, North Korea qualified[12] for the 2010 World Cup by securing a draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.[13] North Korea and Saudi Arabia finished level with 12 points each, but the North Koreans had a superior goal difference. On 4 December 2009, the World Cup 2010 draw put Korea DPR in a group with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal.[14] This is North Korea's second World Cup finals, the first since 1966 where they reached the quarter-finals..