2ND LD: N. Korea to take part in Winter Asian Games

Asian Political News, Jan 20, 2003

AOMORI, Japan, Jan. 14 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING QUOTES, MORE DETAILS, EDITING)

North Korea will send 51 athletes and officials to the upcoming Winter Asian Games in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, games organizers said Tuesday.

North Korea's national Olympic committee submitted an official entry list to the organizing committee for the Feb. 1-8 games by fax by early Tuesday morning following a repeated delay in completing entry procedures.

The list includes 18 athletes in women's ice hockey, four in figure skating and seven in short track speed skating as well as 22 officials. The delegation is the first from North Korea in 13 years to take part in the regional version of the Winter Olympics.

Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) president Tsunekazu Takeda welcomed North Korea's latest decision amid growing tensions over its nuclear program.

''The JOC's stance has been coherent since Japan hosted the inaugural Winter Asian Games in Sapporo in 1986 to help promote winter sports in Asia. In that sense, we welcome North Korea's participation,'' Takeda said.

''I hope the country's presence in Aomori will contribute to peace in the difficult international situation,'' Takada added, referring to North Korea's recent withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear arms.

North Korea has also threatened to end a moratorium on its missile testing.

''North Korea has no diplomatic relations with Japan and so I hope travel arrangements and everything else will go smoothly for the country's delegates,'' said Tetsuo Oyama, head of the JOC International Commission.

In late October, North Korea notified the organizing committee that it will send 104 delegates to the games but the number was reduced to 72 last month after the country canceled its entry into the men's ice hockey tournament.

The final list shows that the country has also rescinded its plans to compete in Alpine and cross country skiing and long-track speed skating.

After North Korea missed the Dec. 31 official deadline for completing entry procedures, the organizing committee repeatedly urged its Olympic officials to speed up the paper work by setting a new deadline at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

North Korea last appeared in the Winter Asian Games in 1990 in Sapporo before sitting out the next two games -- in Harbin, China, in 1996 and Kangwon, South Korea, in 1999.