SOUTH KOREA and North Korea will meet on the qualifying path to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but it’s unclear whether a rare match between them in Pyongyang will materialise considering their political tension.

With the Koreas, there’s never a separation between sports and politics. The North has previously refused to allow South Korean players to enter the country for World Cup qualifiers, forcing Fifa to relocate its home games to China.

Drawn in the same Asian qualifying group on Wednesday, the Koreas are scheduled to meet in the North on October 15 and in the South on June 4 next year. Group H also includes Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka.