North Korea is the most isolated country in the world - a state founded on the infallibility of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and a deep distrust of the rest of the world.
Yet, despite a standard of living that lags behind most other countries, North Korea has been one of the strongest women's football teams on the planet.
When they faced the United States in 2007, they were ranked fifth in the world and on the verge of winning three Asian Championships.
Their results in the youth categories are even more impressive. They won the 20 FIFA U-2016 Women's World Cup, defeating Spain, the USA and France in the knockout stages.
That same year, their U-17 team also lifted the World Cup trophy.
"The 2007 game was a challenge - really incredibly difficult," said US women's soccer player Heather O'Reilly, adding:
"It was hard to take the ball away from them, they were running everywhere, they were extremely fast."
The streak of success was interrupted in 2011 due to the biggest women's doping scandal in the last decade.
Five players tested positive for a rare type of steroid. The explanation was even rarer – the culprit was a traditional medicine made from musk deer glands.
Officials said it was given to the players after lightning struck their training camp in North Korea. This led to FIFA suspending them from the 2015 World Cup.
Because of that penalty, they missed the 2019 World Cup. And then they withdrew from the international scene due to extreme measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last fall, upon their return, they won silver at the Asian Games. In February, they narrowly missed out on a place at the 2024 Paris Olympics, losing in a two-set match to Japan.
The football world is intrigued by the strength of this team in the future. Can the wealth of youth talent translate into senior strength? Has the rest of the world gone too far, and has North Korea's isolation caused too great a gap?
As with most information, when it comes to North Korea – from the grand plans to the smallest details – they are a great mystery.
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