North Korea is planning to send about 300 participants to the CISM Military World Games in South Korea in October, the South Korean news site imael reported Friday.
The 6th summer round of CISM Military World Games will take place in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea from October 2-11.
North Korea previously requested that it be allowed to send 213 personnel to the games, including 143 military athletes, 60 staff and 10 journalists. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered an increase of that number to 300. It is not yet known in which events the North Korean athletes will compete.
The games, organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM), first took place in 1995 and have taken place every four years since. There is also a winter edition of the Military World Games, which took place in 2010 and 2013.
The goal of the CISM – which also hosts other military sporting competitions – and of the games more specifically, is to foster “friendship through sport” among military personnel from various countries, including potential rivals. The presence of North Korean military personnel in South Korea will be a notable example of the organization’s efforts to bring together normally adversarial parties through sports competition.
The games feature numerous sporting events including track and field, taekwondo, shooting, cycling, boxing and swimming, as well as more military-specific events such as orienteering, parachuting, military pentathlon, aeronautical pentathlon and naval pentathlon.