3RD LD: N. Korean delegates for Winter Asian Games in Aomori

Asian Political News, Jan 28, 2003

AOMORI, Japan, Jan. 28 Kyodo

(EDS: CAHNGING DATELINE, UPDATING AFTER NORTH KOREAN DELEGATION'S ARRIVAL IN AOMORI)

The North Korean delegation for the Winter Asian Games arrived in Aomori on Tuesday, four days before the regional version of the Winter Olympics officially kicks off in the northern Japan prefecture.

A total of 55 North Koreans arrived in the Aomori city on Tuesday night on a flight from Haneda airport in Tokyo, hours after they flew into Narita airport from Beijing.

''We would like to participate in competitions of the games actively and show the significance of contributing to the Olympic Movement,'' North Korean delegation chief Ri Tong Ho said in a statement after arriving at Aomori airport.

Most of the North Koreans were tight-lipped on questions by reporters in both Aomori and at Narita, from where they moved to Haneda on chartered buses for transfer to a domestic flight bound for the host prefecture.

At Narita airport, they were greeted by officials of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and students of a North Korean school in Chiba Prefecture.

On Jan. 14, North Korea filed an entry list of 51 athletes and officials, two weeks after the official deadline for completing entry procedures, amid growing tensions over its nuclear program and the issue of Japanese people abducted by the country.

The list comprises 18 players in women's ice hockey, four figure skaters and seven short track speed skaters as well as 22 officials.

North Korea is competing in the Winter Asian Games, inaugurated in 1986, for the first time since the 1990 games in Sapporo. The country was absent from the games in Harbin, China, in 1996 and Kangwon, South Korea, in 1999.

The North Korean women's ice hockey team will meet Kazakstan in Thursday's opening game, two days before the opening ceremony of the Feb. 1-8 games which will stage competitions in six municipalities.