The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Football Association will be unable to field teams in both events, scheduled to be held this year, but no reasons were given for the decisions.

North Korea’s withdrawal has resulted in China being named by the AFC as the replacement for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India.

China, who finished third at the AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship in 2019, will join Japan and hosts India as Asia’s three representatives at the tournament, due to take place from October 11 to 30.

The AFC has also confirmed that Australia, who ranked fourth at the AFC Under-19 Women’s Championship in 2019, will take North Korea’s place at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

Japan and South Korea will be the other Asian nations participating at the event, set to be staged from August 10 to 28.

Costa Rica and India were originally due to stage the 16-team tournaments in 2020 and 2021 respectively only for them to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

FIFA then agreed to award the two nations the respective hosting rights for the next editions.

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson heralded the inclusion of Australia at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup as a "significant moment for the next generation of players".

"Under the guidance of Leah Blayney, over the past 12 months, we have seen several players from this cycle transition into the senior team," said Johnson.

"Now many more of the under-20 players will have the invaluable experience of preparing for a major tournament that will provide critical experiences of high-level international minutes against a diverse range of opponents.

"The Commonwealth Bank Young Matildas have proved a strong launching pad for senior national team careers, and we look forward to watching this talented group on the world stage in Costa Rica."