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North Korea looks to send athletes to Japan for Asian Games

Published: 18 Sep. 2025, 10:17

North Korea's flag bearer leads a group during the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, Friday, Feb. 7. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

North Korea is looking to head to Japan again — not for political reasons, but to compete. The country has informed Japan that it intends to send a large delegation to the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported Wednesday that Pyongyang expressed its desire to participate in the Games, which are scheduled to begin on Sept. 19, 2026. According to officials from the organizing committee, North Korea hopes to dispatch a delegation of around 260 to 270 people, including approximately 150 athletes competing in 17 sports, including football.

The proposed delegation is considered unusually large for North Korea when entering Japan. Kyodo noted that Tokyo, in principle, bans the entry of North Korean nationals as part of its unilateral sanctions in response to the regime’s missile provocations, making a careful review of the request inevitable.

However, Japan has made exceptions for international sports exchanges in the past. In February and March last year, the country allowed the entry of a North Korean men’s and women’s football team, although the size of that delegation was only several dozen.

North Korea did not attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but later participated in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The news agency added that the Games’ organizing committee plans to hold a briefing session for delegation chiefs later this month, and North Korea is reportedly coordinating a plan to send representatives from the pro-Pyongyang Korean community in Japan in their place.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]