North Korea set to end years-long sporting isolation at Asian Games

BEIJING – North Korea has 191 athletes signed up for the Asian Games starting next week, according to organisers, suggesting that the country is poised to end its more than three-year isolation from the global sporting arena.

The North Koreans are listed on the Games’ website as competing in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in sports such as athletics, gymnastics, basketball, football, boxing and weightlifting. They were similarly down to compete at a weightlifting tournament in Cuba in June, but failed to show up.

The secluded nation closed its already tight borders in early 2020 following the outbreak of Covid-19 and skipped the Tokyo Olympics, which were pushed back to 2021 because of the pandemic.

North Korea was then banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics for failing to take part in Tokyo.

But there have been recent signs that the border restrictions have been eased slightly, with a taekwondo team allowed

to travel to a competition in Kazakhstan in August.

Before that, North Korea had not sent any of its athletes to overseas competitions since the pandemic.

The action at Hangzhou Games starts on Sept 19, four days before the opening ceremony, with North Korea scheduled to face Chinese Taipei in men’s football that day.

Football is one sport in which the North Koreans have previously excelled in at the Asian Games. They reached the final of the 2014 edition in South Korea but finished runners-up after losing to their neighbours in extra time. Their women’s team won the gold medal with victory over Japan that same year.  

Besides football, North Korea has traditionally been especially strong in weightlifting. It dominated the event at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018 with eight golds.

Ri Song Gum and Rim Un Sim, who both won gold in the women’s weightlifting five years ago, are scheduled to appear in Hangzhou.

However, North Korea has also been among the countries punished for doping in the sport, including what governing body the IWF called “multiple positive cases” in qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

It is little surprise that North Korea will be in Hangzhou as leader Kim Jong Un is said to be an avid sports fan and Games host China is his country’s long-time ally and main economic benefactor.

The Hangzhou Games

will feature about 12,200 competitors in total

– more than the Olympics – and end on Oct 8. AFP