
(ATR)Leaders in Gwangju are still hopeful North Korea willparticipate in next month's Summer Universiade.
"With an open mind, we will wait until the last minute for North Korea to participate," Gwangju mayor and Gwangju 2015 chairman Yoon Jang Hyuntells AFP.
An official representingtheInternational University Sports Federation (FISU)echoed the mayor's sentiments.
"We don't regard the email as North Korea's final decision because FISUhas yet to receive the same email from Pyongyang.
"We are trying to persuade North Korea through the international body and still hope it will send athletes to Gwangju."
In an email sent to the Gwangju 2015 organizing committee last week, North Korean leaders said the country was pulling out of the event in protest of the opening of a United Nations office in Seoul.
The newly-opened UN office is monitoring Pyongyang's human rights record.
North Korea had planned to send around 75 athletes and 33 officials to the Universiade.
One committee official told AFP,"North Korea's email cited political reasons such as the opening of the UN office in Seoul this week and high cross-border tensions."
The UN proposed the opening of the Seoul office following a blistering report on human rights violations in North Korea published by a UN commission last year.
North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, both held in South Korea, but has since attended several other events in the country, including the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
The Universiade, held every two years, is an international multi-sport event for university athletes and serves as a stage for future Olympians.
Over 13,000 athletes and officials from 145 countries are expected to join in this year's Summer Universiade, slated for July 3-14.
Written byNicole Bennett
For general comments or questions,click here.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics isAroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
