Pyongyang: North Korea’s national team has departed for Harbin, China, to participate in the forthcoming Asian Winter Games, as reported by the North’s state media on Thursday. The team, accompanied by a delegation from North Korea’s Olympic Committee led by Sports Minister and committee Chairman Kim Il-guk, left Pyongyang the day before, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

According to Yonhap News Agency, the event’s organizing committee website states that three North Korean athletes have registered to compete in figure skating. Ryom Tae-ok and Han Kum-chol will participate in the pairs category, while Ro Yong-myong will compete in the men’s singles. Ryom previously won a bronze medal in the figure skating pairs event at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo with her former partner, Kim Ju-sik, and finished 13th in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

North Korean athletes had previously competed in both figure skating and short track events at the 2017 Asian Winter Games. However, this year, they have only sent figure skaters who are considered potential medal winners. The 2025 Asian Winter Games are scheduled to take place from Friday through February 14.

An official from South Korea’s unification ministry noted signs that North Korea initially planned to send a larger team but may have reduced its numbers due to challenges in training athletes. “We assume that North Korea may have minimized its participation to only the most medal-prospective events because insufficient field training during the COVID-19 border controls weakened competitiveness,” the official stated, requesting anonymity.

For context, North Korea dispatched a team of 66 athletes to the 2007 Asian Winter Games in Changchun, China, sent 32 athletes to the 2011 games in Kazakhstan, and fielded seven athletes for the 2017 games in Sapporo, Japan.