North Korea to send over 100 athletes to Asian Games in Japan

North Korea will send about 100 athletes to compete across 14 sports at the Asian Games in Japan next month, 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 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 include two Japan-based ethnic Koreans competing in women’s football and karate, Ko Chol-ho, secretary general of North Korea’s Olympic committee, said.

“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 Tuesday.

He noted that the delegation would be smaller than the one sent to the Hangzhou Games in 2023 but said he hoped it would win more medals.