'Nervous' N Korea snubs games
2003-08-18 07:57
Daegu - North Korea says it will not take part in this year's student games here this week as South Korea has become too hostile for North Koreans.
The Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland said the north would not take part in the Universiade as the south has become a "very dangerous place" for North Koreans.
It took issue with recent anti-Pyongyang rallies held by rightwing groups in the south, which were regarded as an affront to North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-Il.
The rightwing groups, including veterans of the inter-Korean war, held rallies to protest against the north's nuclear weapons programme.
A 218-member North Korean delegation, including 88 athletes and 24 journalists, was to leave Pyongyang eary on Sunday in two passenger planes, but the flights were cancelled abruptly.
The cancellation had earlier been blamed on technical problems.
- AFP