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.