Incheon Asian Games Organizer Asks IOC To Help Ensure North Korea's Participation

The top organizer for this year's Asian Games in South Korea has asked the IOC "to help North Korea take part in the event," according to YONHAP. Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee President Kim Young-soo met with IOC President Thomas Bach during his visit on Monday to the Olympic Council of Asia headquarters in Kuwait. There, Kim asked Bach "for the IOC's cooperation in ensuring North Korea's presence in the quadrennial continental competition." Bach responded that the IOC "would spare no effort in assisting South Korean organizations, since the Asian Games wouldn't be complete if any one country were missing" (YONHAP, 4/1). REUTERS' Narae Kim reported the news comes "amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula after the North fired more than 100 artillery rounds into South Korean waters as part of a drill on Monday, prompting the South to fire back." North Korea said in January that "it would send men’s and women’s soccer teams to compete at the Asian Games" (REUTERS, 4/1).