North Korea plans to send around 100 athletes across 14 sports to the Asian Games in Japan next month, marking a return to major international competition on Japanese soil despite strained relations between the two countries.
Ko Chol Ho, secretary general of North Korea’s Olympic Committee, told the Tokyo-based Choson Sinbo newspaper that the country expects its smaller delegation to challenge for more medals than it won at the previous Asian Games.
North Korea sent about 185 athletes across 18 sports to the 2022 Asian Games, which were postponed and held in Hangzhou, China, in 2023. The delegation won 39 medals, including 11 gold, 18 silver and 10 bronze, with weightlifting accounting for a significant share of the gold-medal haul.
Ko said the reduced size of the team would not diminish North Korea’s ambitions.
The athletes have been preparing intensively and are entering the Games with high morale, according to Ko, who expressed confidence that the delegation can improve on its performance in Hangzhou despite competing in fewer sports.
The team is expected to include athletes in football, weightlifting, boxing and wrestling, among other disciplines. Two Japan-based ethnic Koreans, footballer Ri Song-a and karate practitioner Jong Se-ri, are also expected to compete for North Korea.
The participation will carry added significance because of the complicated relationship between Pyongyang and Tokyo. Relations have remained tense over Japan’s historical grievances with North Korea, the abduction of Japanese citizens and Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
North Korea withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 after a one-year postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing concerns over the global health crisis. It subsequently missed the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2026 Winter Olympics as strict controls limited its athletes’ participation in overseas events.
The country gradually resumed international competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 and sent a delegation to the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The planned Asian Games team therefore represents another step in North Korea’s return to the international sporting stage after years of isolation.
Weightlifting is likely to be one of North Korea’s strongest medal opportunities. The country has traditionally excelled in the sport, and its lifters produced a large portion of the gold medals won in Hangzhou. North Korea also established several world records in women’s weightlifting events during those Games.
Football and combat sports are also expected to play prominent roles in the delegation.
The 20th Asian Games will be held primarily in Nagoya and other locations across Japan’s Aichi Prefecture from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. Organizers expect more than 11,000 athletes representing 45 countries and territories to compete across more than 40 sports.
North Korea’s participation will add a diplomatic dimension to an event designed to bring Asia’s sporting powers together. Its athletes and officials will have to navigate the practical and political sensitivities of traveling to Japan while competing under the North Korean flag.
