North Korea should host World Cup matches if the Far East is awarded the 2030 tournament, the new president of South Korea has told Gianni Infantino.

Moon Jae-in made the extraordinary proposal during a meeting with his Fifa counterpart following his country’s staging of the Under-20 World Cup.

That tournament was won by England, which has also been eyeing a bid for an event the president of Uefa this month vowed to block being given to China.

According to Moon’s office, the South Korean president told Infantino: “If neighboring Northeast Asian countries, including South and North Korea, can host the World Cup, I think that would contribute to peace between South and North Korea and in the Northeast Asian region.

“I would like president Infantino to have interests on this matter.”