TOKYO: Japan will send 14 government employees to Pyongyang to support Japanese nationals, including members of its national soccer team, over an upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Japan will face North Korea in the game in the North Korean capital slated for March 26.

The government group will be led by the director of the Consular Policy Division of the ministry’s Consular Affairs Bureau.

The group, to be based in a Pyongyang hotel over the five days from Saturday, will be prepared for unexpected situations involving Japanese nationals.

The government sent a group of officials to Pyongyang when a similar soccer game was held in the city in November 2011.

JIJI Press