By Kim Yoo-chul
North Korea has decided not to send a cheerleading squad to the Incheon Asian Games from Sept. 19 to Oct. 1, a senior official at the North Korean Olympic committee said Thursday.
“We won’t send a cheerleading squad to the Incheon Asian Games,” Son Kwang-ho, vice chairman of Pyongyang’s National Olympic Committee, told (North) Korean Central Television.
“Working-level discussions between Pyongyang and Seoul over the issue of sending a cheerleading squad failed, as the two sides differed over key issues such as expenses and the size of the cheerleading squad,” Son said.
Pyongyang had planned to send a 350-member cheerleading squad to the Asiad in a move to promote goodwill between the two Koreas.
He said North Korea had notified the Incheon Asian Game Organizing Committee and the South Korean authorities of the decision.
Son was the chief negotiator for North Korea in last month’s talks with South Korea about its participation in the upcoming Asian Games.
Inter-Korean relations have turned sour since the North carried out a series of rocket and missile launches.