North Korea has participated in five AFC Asian Cup tournaments, and finished in fourth place, their best performance to date, during their maiden appearance in 1980.
However, unlike their Southern neighbor, North Korea often struggles to have the best performances, due to poor quality of the national team and their squad, as well as outside sanctions on the nation for its repressive nature. North Korea, after their 1980 appearance, would have to wait for 12 years for their next qualification, and they made further tournament appearances in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions. North Korea has not won an Asian Cup match since 1980, a drought of nearly 40 years.
Squads
1980 Asian Cup
Group A
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
1992 Asian Cup
Group A
2011 Asian Cup
Group D
2015 Asian Cup
Group B
[2]
2019 Asian Cup
Group E
Source: AFC
Overall record
| AFC Asian Cup record
|
|
Qualification record
|
| Year
|
Result
|
Position
|
|
|
*
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
|
|
|
|
1956 |
Not an AFC member
|
Not an AFC member
|
1960
|
1964
|
1968
|
1972
|
1976 |
Withdrew after qualifying
|
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
4
|
1980 |
Fourth place |
4th |
6 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
12
|
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
2
|
1984 |
Did not enter
|
Did not enter
|
1988 |
Did not qualify
|
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2
|
1992 |
Group stage |
8th |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
0
|
1996 |
Did not enter
|
Did not enter
|
2000 |
Did not qualify
|
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
7
|
2004
|
8 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
15
|
   2007 |
Banned
|
Banned
|
2011 |
Group stage |
12th |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2
|
Qualified as 2010 AFC Challenge Cup winners
|
2015 |
Group stage |
14th |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
7
|
Qualified as 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners
|
2019 |
Group stage |
24th |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
14
|
14 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
27 |
18
|
2023 |
Withdrew[3]
|
Withdrew during qualifying
|
2027 |
Qualified
|
6 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
7
|
| Total |
Fourth place |
6/19 |
18 |
3 |
2 |
13 |
15 |
40
|
51 |
26 |
11 |
14 |
76 |
55
|
See also
References
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| General | |
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| World Finals | |
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| Notable matches | |
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| Other tournaments | |
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| Rivalries | |
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| Culture | |
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| Other PRKFA teams | |
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| AFF | |
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| CAFA | |
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| EAFF | |
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| SAFF | |
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| WAFF | |
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| Former | |
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1 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under other name(s). 2 Israel was a member of the AFC until 1974. 3 Recognized by FIFA as defunct. |