SEOUL-- North Korea has withdrawn from U-23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan and Women's Asian Cup in India, both scheduled for next year, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said Thursday.

"The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has taken note of the DPR Korea Football Association's withdrawal from the qualifying competitions of both the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 and the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022," the confederation said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The AFC said it will conduct a draw on Aug. 11 to maintain the balance of the number of teams across all groups for the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers.

"The draw results of the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022 Qualifiers conducted on June 24, 2021, remain unchanged," it said.

The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup doubles as the Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

Source: Yonhap News Agency