Jakarta Globe - AFP, February 24, 2014
Seoul.
North Korea will participate in all events at the Asian Games to be hosted in
South Korea’s western port city of Incheon later this year, reports said
Monday.
North
Korean officials told South Korean reporters that preparations are under way to
compete in all events at the so-called Asiad games, according to pooled media
reports from the current reunion of families divided by the Korean War.
South Korea
has invited North Korea to participate in the games, which will run from
September 19 to October 4, through the Olympic Council of Asia, a body that
governs all sports in Asia.
But there
has been no formal confirmation of participation yet from North Korea’s rulers.
The North
boycotted the 1988 Olympics hosted by Seoul but sent athletes and cheerleaders
for the 2002 Asian Games in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan.
The first
family reunion for more than three years is under way at a mountain resort in
North Korea, raising hopes of greater North-South cooperation.
North Korea
had originally threatened to cancel if the South and the United States pushed
ahead with annual joint military drills that began on Monday.
In an
apparent goodwill gesture, Seoul last week approved the shipment by two private
aid groups for close to $1.0 million worth of tuberculosis medicine and
powdered milk to North Korea.
On Monday
South Korea offered to send vaccine and medical equipment to help contain an
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the North.
The offer
came days after the North confirmed cases of the highly contagious livestock
disease at a pig farm in a suburb of Pyongyang.
Agence France-Presse
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