DPRK not to send cheering squad to Incheon Asiad

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has decided not to send any cheering squad to South Korea for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games next month, a senior official said Thursday.

File photo of DPRK's cheering squad. [Photo/IC]

Son Gwang Ho, vice chairman of the DPRK's Olympic Committee, made the announcement on Korean Central Television, blaming South Korean officials for deliberately putting obstacles at the working-level talks between Pyongyang and Seoul in July.

The inter-Korean working-level talks on the 17th Asian Games at the truce village of Panmunjom were concluded on July 17 without reaching any agreement. The DPRK accused South Korea of making absurd assertions and behaving recklessly, which led to the breakdown of the talks.

The dispatch of the cheering squad to the 17th Asian Games in Incheon was aimed at cheering for Olympic players and improving north-south relations for the national reconciliation, Son said.

However, the South Korean side took issue with the scale of the delegation and the size of the DPRK national flag at the talks, and even put forward the expenses issue, which the DPRK side had not mentioned, he said.

The 17th Asian Games will be held in the South Korea's western port city of Incheon from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. The DPRK will send a delegation of 273 people to the Incheon Asiad, including 150 athletes, South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said Friday.