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| ▲ This photo, taken Sept. 21, 2023, shows North Korean athletes taking part in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. (Yonhap) |
NK delegation-Asian Games
N. Korea sends delegation of sports officials for Asian Games in Hangzhou
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has sent a delegation of sports officials to the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, state media said Thursday.
The delegation, led by Sports Minister Kim Il-guk, left Pyongyang on Tuesday to participate in the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou from Saturday to Oct. 8, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
The North sent an earlier delegation of athletes last week.
It remains uncertain whether North Korea would separately send an additional high-level delegation.
But South Korea's unification ministry saw a low possibility of the North sending a high-level delegation, saying that the secretive regime had mostly dispatched a delegation headed by the sports minister for the Olympic and Asian Games, except in a few cases, including the Asian Games in 2014.
In October 2014, North Korea sent a high-level delegation consisting of then three powerful officials -- Hwang Pyong-so, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon -- to South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon.
The Hangzhou Asian Games will be the first international multisport competition for North Korea since the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. The North skipped the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, citing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
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