North Korea to ‘bring joy to Marshal Kim’ with 100 athletes at Asian Games
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An aspiring athlete practices a kick during the National Taekwon-Do Fans Contest in Pyongyang on Aug 12.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – North Korea will send about 100 athletes to compete across 14 sports at the Asian Games in Japan in September, a senior official said, aiming to “bring joy to Marshal Kim Jong Un”.
The nuclear-armed state suspended participation in international sporting competitions during the Covid-19 pandemic but returned at the Asian Games in China in 2023 and also took part in the Paris Olympics.
The team for the regional Games in Nagoya and the Aichi region includes two Japan-based ethnic Koreans competing in women’s football and karate, said Ko Chol Ho, secretary-general of North Korea’s Olympic committee.
“Our delegation will send more than 100 athletes to compete in 14 sports, including men’s and women’s football, weightlifting, boxing and wrestling,” Ko told Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean publication based in Japan, during an interview in Pyongyang.
“We are making every effort, driven by a strong desire to live up to the expectations of our country and people by achieving even greater results at the upcoming Games,” the official said, in remarks published on Aug 25.
He noted that the delegation would be smaller than the one sent to the Hangzhou Games of 2023 but said he hoped it would win more medals.
Authoritarian North Korea won 11 golds last time, half of them in weightlifting.
The official said morale among the athletes was high for the event, which runs from Sept 19 to Oct 4, and they were motivated to win for their leader.
“Our athletes are training tirelessly every day, determined to bring joy to Marshal Kim,” he said.
North Korea has recently been hurling criticism at Japan, a former regional colonial power, over what Pyongyang describes as its remilitarisation. AFP