In 2025, the DPRK made positive efforts to develop sports and make them mass-based.

Fierce games

As in 2024, many sports games held in 2025 attracted public attention.

For example, a lot of football matches continued to take place all year round, including the 2024-2025 DPRK Premier League, football matches of the professional sports sector of the 14th National People's Games, the Hwaeppul Cup football tournament, the Football Association Cup domestic powers’ tournament and the Challenge Cup soccer tournament.

What drew special attention was the 2024-2025 DPRK Premier League held amid the great expectation and interest of football experts and fans.

It recorded 60-odd more goals than the previous 2023-2024 DPRK Premier League and the difference in points between the first and second placers significantly decreased as compared to the previous league matches.

The National Martial Arts Championships, which were held divided into several sports events including Taekwon-Do, paduk and wushu, were very popular.

The Kangwon Provincial Taekwon-Do Team won the Taekwon-Do event of the championships and the paduk team of the Pyongyang Municipal Paduk Centre its paduk event.

Meanwhile, championships, league matches, inter-provincial games, technical innovation games and all-star tournaments were held fiercely in each event. In the course of that, new national, national youth and championships records were established in several events including weightlifting and track and field.

Undiminished enthusiasm for mass sports activities

Mass sports games were also briskly held like those of professional sports.

Various sports contests took place, including the category of the general field of the 14th National People’s Games, the 12th Sports Contest of the Public Health Sector and the 55th Sports Contest of Artistes, among which the 14th games were held on the largest scale.

The games, which included various sports events and colourful amusement games such as basketball, volleyball, table tennis, tennis, Taekwon-Do, ssirum (Korean wrestling), 4×100 metre relay and yut (four-stick) game, highlighted the aspect of mass sports developing day by day and marked an important occasion in arousing the zeal for sports across the country.

There were also sports games for amateurs and elderly persons.

The contests for bowling and golf amateurs took place in spring and autumn and the national open paduk contest and other games open to both professionals and amateurs captured the close attention of many.

At the Autumn Sports Contest of Aged People-2025 held on the occasion of International Day of Older Persons, the players were full of vigour and stamina in their advanced age thanks to the state policy on the care of the aged and showed off their various sports techniques.

There also took place national sports games.

As Taekwon-Do associated with the resourcefulness and spirit of the nation is practised briskly all across the country, national amateur Taekwon-Do players’ contest-2025 took place with more than 600 players selected from across the country in attendance.

With such growing enthusiasm for sports, many units were appreciated as the units good at sports in 2025.

Material and sci-tech foundations laid for sports

Sports facilities have been renovated or newly built in different parts of the country.

The Ice Rink was splendidly remodelled as a multi-functional sports and cultural complex and the general training centre and hostel for sportspeople of the Ministry of Land and Maritime Transport Sports Club were newly built boasting their unique architectural beauty.

Several provinces newly built and inaugurated the aviation clubs and North Hwanghae Province built the Sariwon Riding Club.

In particular, South Hamgyong Province built an aviation club, remodelled Hamhung Stadium and newly constructed a distinctive sports village in 2025.

Meanwhile, the 27th national exhibition of sports sci-tech achievements and the national symposium on teaching methods in the sports sector-2025 took place last November as part of the efforts to improve the level of sports science and technology.

On display there were programs, measuring devices, sports goods, medicines and tonics and books and papers on sports science and technology presented by hundreds of units including the Academy of Sports Science and Korea University of Physical Education.

At the symposium attended by teachers, coaches, instructors and researchers from the sports education sector and sports teams and clubs across the country, participants presented papers on effective and advantageous methods of education, instruction and training they invented and applied to practice and shared their experience.

Exhibitions of sports sci-tech achievements also took place in South Phyongan and other provinces.