North Korea to send downsized delegation to Asian Games

August 21, 2014
A squad of North Korean cheerleaders arrive at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 31, 2005, to attend the 16th Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. North Korea said on July 7, 2014, it will dispatch a cheerleading contingent to the Incheon Asian Games in September along with its athletes to help improve inter-Korean relations and to show Pyongyang's commitment to unification. (Yonhap)

A squad of North Korean cheerleaders arrive at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 31, 2005, to attend the 16th Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. North Korea said on July 7, 2014, it will dispatch a cheerleading contingent to the Incheon Asian Games in September along with its athletes to help improve inter-Korean relations and to show Pyongyang’s commitment to unification. (Yonhap)

UPDATED (Yonhap) — North Korea has scaled down the size of its delegation to the Asian Games to be held in South Korea next month, a ministry official said Friday, as it called for the resumption of talks meant to work out the details of its participation.

The North notified the South that it will send a 273-member delegation to the Asian Games to be held in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Eyi-do said.

The figure represents a drop from the 352-member delegation the North had initially told the Olympic Council of Asia, the organizer of the regional sports event, it would bring to the event earlier this month.

Still, the number of North Korean athletes remained unchanged at 150, according to Kim.