AOMORI, Japan, Jan. 28 Kyodo (EDS...

AOMORI, Japan, Jan. 28 Kyodo

(EDS: CAHNGING DATELINE, UPDATING AFTER NORTH KOREAN DELEGATION'S ARRIVAL IN AOMORI)

The North Korean delegation for the Winter Asian Games arrived in Aomori forward Tuesday, four days before the regional version of the Winter Olympics officially kicks not upon in the northern Japan prefecture

A total of 55 North Koreans arrived in the Aomori city in succession Tuesday night on a flight from Haneda airport in Tokyo, hours after they flew into Narita airport from Beijing.

''We would like to participate in competitions of the games actively and point out the significance of contributing to the Olympic Movement'' North Korean delegation chief Ri Tong Ho said in a statement after arriving at Aomori airport.

in the greatest degree of the North Koreans were tight-lipped forward questions by reporters in one as well as the other Aomori and at Narita, from where they mov to Haneda onward chartered buses for transfer to a domestic flight bounce for the host prefecture

At Narita airport, they were saluteed by officials of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and close examiners of a North Korean institute in Chiba Prefecture.

forward Jan. 14, North Korea filed an entrance list of 51 athletes and officials, brace weeks after the official deadline for completing memorandum procedures, amid growing tensions across its nuclear program and the issue of Japanese folks abducted by the country.

The list comprises 18 players in women's ice hockey four figure skaters and seven short track spe skaters as well as 22 officials.

North Korea is competing in the Winter Asian Games, inaugurated in 1986 for the first time since the 1990 games in Sapporo. The home was absent from the games in Harbin, China, in 1996 and Kangwon, toward the south Korea, in 1999.

The North Korean women's ice hockey team will qualified Kazakstan in Thursday's opening game, pair days before the opening show of the Feb. 1-8 games which will stage competitions in six municipalities.

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