North Korean athletes and officials participating in the upcoming Winter Asian Games arrived at Narita airport Tuesday afternoon. The North Korean delegates are scheduled to travel to Aomori later Tuesday, four days before an opening ceremony officially kicks off the Feb. 1-8 games to be held in six Aomori Prefecture municipalities. On Jan. 14, North Korea filed an entry list of 51 athletes and officials, two weeks after the official deadline for completing entry procedures, amid growing tensions over its nuclear program and the issue of Japanese people abducted by the country.
And in Winter Asian Games news:
AOMORI (Kyodo) Three women's snowboarding events were dropped from the official competition program of the upcoming Winter Asian Games on Tuesday due to a lack of competitors from outside of Japan. Organizers for the Feb. 1-8 games demoted the women's slalom, giant slalom and halfpipe.