North Korea’s men’s and women’s national football teams have arrived in Tokyo ahead of the biennial East Asian football tournament to be held in Japan.

The Japanese government has banned North Korean nationals from entering the country as part of its sanctions on the regime, but decided to make an exception for the North Korean players participating in the 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship.

The North Korean teams flew from Pyongyang to Beijing last weekend to have their visas issued by the Japanese Embassy.

South Korea, North Korea, Japan and China will compete in the tournament, which starts on Saturday.