North Korea, which was suspended from participating in the Tokyo Olympics, is aiming to return to the international stage.
There is a possibility that we will face our athletes in the weightlifting qualifiers for the Paris Olympics to be held next month.
This is reporter Park Soo-ju.
[Reporter]
North Korea, which has been suspended from participating in international competitions, is preparing for the Hangzhou Asian Games this year and the Paris Olympics next year.
This is because the punishment received for not participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to concerns about corona19 infection was lifted from this year.
North Korea held an Olympic Committee general meeting at the end of March to emphasize achievements such as winning medals, while reportedly registering a preliminary list of hundreds of athletes for the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September.
North Korea announced its preparations for a comeback by sending two male athletes to the East Asian Karate Championships held in China at the end of last month.
It was the first international competition in three years since the Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship match in January 2020.
However, according to the Korea Karate Federation, both fighters are said to be members of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.토토사이트
It is expected to participate in the first round of the International Weightlifting Federation Grand Prix to be held in Cuba next month to compete in the Olympic finals, and it is predicted that athletes residing in North Korea will participate in this competition.
Unlike the karate competition, where no Korean players participated, two Korean male and female athletes are scheduled to participate in weightlifting, so the possibility that the two Koreas will face each other cannot be ruled out.
Weightlifting is a Summer Olympics sport in which North Korea has won the most medals.
As North Korea actively expresses its willingness to participate in international competitions, there is interest in whether there will be an opportunity to improve relations, such as an inter-Korean joint entrance at the opening ceremony, but it is difficult to expect it right away.
<Korean Olympic Committee official> “Basically, the relationship or improvement part has to be preceded, so I haven’t considered that part yet.”
Inter-Korean sports exchanges were last cut off with a single team participation in the 2019 Men’s World Handball Championships.