Explainer

What’s the Name of the South Korean Soccer Team?

In coverage of this year’s World Cup, the news media and FIFA have referred to one of the host teams as both Korea and South Korea. What’s the team really called?

Korea Republic. The nation officially calls itself the Republic of Korea (see the embassy Web site here). Since there’s no North Korean team at the World Cup, the team can be called “Korea” without causing too much confusion.

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