North Korea returns to Asian Games in China after five years

North Korean athletes on Thursday departed Pyongyang to compete in the Asian Games in China, the first international multisport competition North Korea has taken part in since the Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018.

After being postponed because of the COVID-19 epidemic, this year's Asian Games will take place in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8.

However, the size of the team or the athletes' travel plans were not disclosed by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

According to the South China Morning Post, North Korea has 191 athletes signed up for the Asian Games in sports including athletics, gymnastics, basketball, football, boxing and weightlifting.

North Korea has traditionally been especially strong in weightlifting, dominating the event at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018 with eight golds.

The Asian Games feature about 12,200 competitors in total which is more than the Olympics.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced North Korea to seal its borders to almost all travel in early 2020, the country withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics over concerns about the coronavirus.

The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Championships which were held in Kazakhstan in August, also featured North Korean taekwondo competitors who took part in them for the first time since the epidemic began, Reuters reported.

Moreover, after failing to send a team to Tokyo, North Korea was expelled from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until the end of 2022, missing the Winter Olympics in Beijing.