14th Asiad torches lit together in two Koreas

14th Asiad torches lit together in two Koreas

Associated Press, Seoul

Seven women dressed as angels lit an Asian Games torch Thursday
using sunlight reflected by a mirror at the peak of Halla
Mountain on South Korea's southernmost island of Jeju.

Simultaneously, a flame for the Sept. 29-Oct. 14 games was lit
atop Baekdu Mountain on the northern tip of North Korea, said Kim
Jung-hoon, a spokeswoman for the Asian Games organizing
committee.

Details of the North Korean ceremony were not immediately
available, Kim said.

The two torches will unite Saturday at the Korean border. From
there, a single flame will make a 4,239 kilometer trip around
South Korean cities for 23 days before reaching Busan, which
hosts this year's games.

The two Koreas agreed to the lighting arrangement last month
as a symbolic gesture to promote reconciliation.

North Korea agreed to send 305 athletes and sports officials
to the games. It will also send 355 performers and supporters to
cheer their national team.

The North has never participated in an international sporting
event in the South, including this year's World Cup soccer finals
co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

The ceremonies follow months of tensions between the Koreas.
Relations chilled after the United States, a key South Korean
ally, branded North Korea an "axis of evil" country in January,
and navy boats of the two Koreas engaged in a deadly skirmish in
June.

North Korea expressed regret over the naval clash in July, and
the Koreas agreed to a new set of sports and other exchanges last
month.

The Korean peninsula divided into communist North and pro-
Western South in 1945. The 1950-53 Korean War ended without a
peace treaty, and their border remains sealed and heavily
fortified.