Photo for illustration (Source: Yonhap/VNA)
A group of 34 DPRK athletes travelled to Seoul via Beijing on July 28th, to train with Republic of Korea (RoK) athletes for the upcoming games in Jakarta, spokesman for the RoK Unification Ministry, Baik Tae-hyun said.
The DPRK delegation is comprised of four women basketball players, eight rowers, 18 boat racers and four supporting officials.
The DPRK and the RoK have agreed to assemble joint teams in dragon boat racing, women's basketball and rowing for the event.
The basketballers will practice at the National Training Center in Jincheon, Chungcheong province, while the rowers will join their RoK counterparts at the training site at Tangeum Lake in Chungju near Jincheon.
This is not the first time the DPRK and RoK assembled joint teams for the international arena. Earlier, DPRK skiers and skaters participated in the Winter Olympics PyeongChang in February; the two country’s athletes also assembled in the World Tour Platinum Korea Open in July in Dejeon, RoK, and the Table Tennis World Championships in May.
Earlier, Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially invited both DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and RoK President Moon Jae-in to the opening ceremony of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta.
A total of 11,300 athletes from 45 member Olympic committees are set to take part in the Asian Games, which take place from August 18th – September 2nd in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
The athletes will compete in 465 events across 40 sports and 67 disciplines. The Games will chiefly take place in the capital Jakarta and the city of Palembang in South Sumatra province, with other cities in West Java providing a supporting role./.