The North Korean women’s soccer team arrived in Japan on Thursday for Olympic qualifying matches in what Tokyo called “an exception” to its entry ban imposed over Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear weapons test and a rocket launch.

Members of the IOC, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, announced the decision after a secret ballot, dealing a potential boon to the global winter sports industry but sparking outrage among activists and human rights groups who say the committee has rewarded China’s Communist Party during its strongest crackdown on dissent in decades.

Ahead of hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, the country is ramping up government-sponsored efforts to promote its culture abroad.