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World University Games 2015
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North Korea has said it will boycott a global sports event
for university athletes to be held in South Korea because of Seoul's decision
to open a U.N. office to investigate human rights abuses in the North,
officials said on Monday.
Pyongyang has accused
South Korea of a conspiracy to undermine its leadership by opening the human
rights office, which arose from a U.N. commission of inquiry that documented
killings, torture and political prison camps inside North Korea.
The office is expected to
open in Seoul this week.
Reuters reports North Korea has notified organizers
of the Universiade games in the South Korean city of Gwangju that it would not
be participating, the head of the organizing committee, Yoon Jang-hyun, told a
news conference.
South Korean news agency
Yonhap quoted the committee's secretary general, Kim Yoon-suk, as saying North
Korea cited the U.N. human rights office as the reason for its boycott.
The two Koreas are
technically still at war under a truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. A
meeting of their leaders in 2000 led to a period of warmer ties but tensions
flared anew in 2010 and relations remain difficult.
In March, the North said
it would send a team of 108 athletes to compete in eight events at the
Universiade games, including women's soccer, from July 2. There was hope that
the North's participation would help a return to dialogue.
North Korea sent a team
to the Asian Games held in the South Korean city of Incheon last year, and a
delegation of high-ranking officials to the closing ceremony, that also raised
hopes but no talks eventuated.
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