In the international game known as the Asian Olympics, sponsored by the Asia Olympic Council, athletes from 43 countries and regions will compete in 36 sports events such as football, athletics and Taekwondo.

Among 209 north Korean players are Kye Sun Hui, gold medal judoist at the Atlanta Olympics and top Asian paddler Kim Hyun Hui. Compared to delegations in the previous games, Pyongyang in this time has formed a relatively large-scale sports delegation, showing its willingness to grow competitive young athletes for the next world Olympics.

Here The People's Korea introduces an interview with Chang Ung, vice minister of the DPRK Sports Ministry and a member of the IOC, on the perspectives and goals and hopes of the DPRK in the quadrennial meeting:

Q: What is the scale of the DPRK delegation?

A: We are going to send a 317-member team to the Games.

We will participate in the Asian Games for the first time in eight years since the 11th Beijing Asian Games in 1990.

After President Kim Il Sung passed away in 1994, our athletes had refrained from participating in international games. After participation in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with 24 athletes, the DPRK attended various international games such as the latest Nagano Winter Olympics this year.

Our purposes in the Asian Games are to review our ability in various events in the light of Asian levels and to foresee prospects for a qualifying round of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. To this end, we expect to send promising young athletes rather than athletes already well-known to the world.

The team consists of 209 athletes, 61 officials, 43 instructors, three members of the National Olympic Committee and a member of the IOC. Eighteen international judges of the DPRK will also participate in the Games.

Q: What are the DPRK team's entry events and who are promising athletes?

A: We are going to register for 21 events.

Our male players will participate in 15 competitions such as soccer, basketball, table tennis, golf, wrestling, judo, boxing, weight-lifting, field and track events, gymnastics, diving, shooting, boat race, canoe and marathon.

Female players will take part in 18 competitions such as soccer, basketball, table tennis, volleyball, handball, bowling, judo, weight-lifting, field and track events, gymnastics, rhythmic sportive gymnastics, diving, shooting, fencing, boat race, canoe, softball and marathon.

We expect good results from our players in all events, especially we have good hopes in wrestling, judo, boxing, soccer, gymnastics, shooting, boat race and table tennis.

We hope for good results from women's competitions including soccer, judo and table tennis.

The DPRK woman soccer national team took second place in the 11th Asian Woman Soccer Championships in December 1997. The team, aiming at the World Championships next year in the U.S., made several playing tours of Europe including Germany and achieved satisfactory results.

We enter Kye Sun Hui, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Gold medalist, in women's judo events. Woman judo members are training hard to win world championships as well as Asian championships.

Woman table tennis players have gained ample experiences through lots of international games after the Atlanta Olympics, and now they are ready for the Asian Games in best condition. I think our woman weight-lifters are also in high level in Asia.

On the other hand, we have great hopes for male events such as wrestling, weight-lifting, gymnastics, boxing and soccer, in which we once won worldwide distinction.

We organize our soccer team mainly with young players who participated in the Asia Youth Soccer Championships in Kuwait this year.

As for gymnastic events, we enter young gymnasts as well as experienced gymnasts including Pae Gil Su, a Gold medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Seven skillful boxers from the DPRK will compete in boxing events. Cha Ho Chol in 51 kg-class, Ri Gwang Sik in 54 kg-class, Pak Chol Jun in 57 kg-class and Ri Chol in 63.5 kg-class will meet our expectations, and Pak Chun in 48 kg-class seems to cause a sensation in the Games.

Meanwhile, our woman softball team, fencing team and bowling team are going to participate for the first time in an international game. We are greatly interested in these events.

Our woman softball team is recently making rapid progress in its ability as in May it tied 1-1 with the world top-class Chinese national team. Our fencing team also is heightening its technique by making playing tours of Russia and China.

Q: How many medals do you expect north Korean athletes to get and what about the prospect of Korean athletes from Japan?

A: Every athlete is determined to win a medal. But we do not make much of the number of medals (in this game), as we give much priority to the next Olympics. I hope that young athletes will have much experience and learn lessons for meetings in the future.

We will send 18 Koreans from Japan to the Bangkok game. Korean residents are expected to do their best, always with honor and pride as representatives of the DPRK in their minds.

I especially look forward to seeing strong showing by wrestler Chong Gon I, who won championship at the People's Sports Festival of the DPRK held in October. Also, we expect much from weightlifter Kim Tae Yang and boxer Paek Yong Chol, both the silver medal winners at the national meeting.