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North Korea pulls plug on university games delegation

North Korea yesterday canceled plans to send athletes to South Korea for this month's World University Games, calling the South a "dangerous place" to visit.

The communist North's abrupt decision chills relations between the two Koreas ahead of crucial multilateral talks in Beijing later this month aimed at resolving a standoff over the North's suspected development of nuclear weapons.

"It is an obvious reality that we cannot send our athletes to University Games in Daegu, South Korea, a dangerous place where compatriots do harm to their brothers' safety and dignity," said a statement from the Asia-Pacific Committee, a North Korean government agency handling relations with the South.

The statement complained about anti-North Korea protests in the South on Friday, when about 5,000 protesters condemned Pyongyang's nuclear programs, burned pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and urged him to step down.

North Korea on Sunday canceled two flights that were supposed to carry about 200 athletes to South Korea ahead of the Aug. 21 to 31 university games in Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city.

South Korea's Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun sent a telephone message to Pyongyang, urging the North to send the delegation.

The North's failure to send the team "is feared to have an undesirable effect" in North-South relations, Jeong's office said in a news release.
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