By Alex Jensen

SEOUL 

South Korea is preparing to welcome more than 100 athletes and officials from North Korea to Seoul on Thursday – just over a week before the start of the Incheon Asian Games.

But the organizing committee took an unexpected cautionary step on the eve of the delegation’s arrival – removing national flags representing all 45 participating countries from the host city’s streets.

The move followed opposition from local conservative groups, who were unhappy about North Korean flags being displayed.

The official line from the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee is that it “decided to display only OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) flags and the game emblem on the streets with the national flags of participating countries to be hoisted only at game venues.”

In the absence of further clarification, local news agency Yonhap conveyed fears that North Korean flags could be vandalized.

It is widely hoped that the North’s participation in the Games could help ease long-standing inter-Korean relations – the two countries never signed a peace treaty after the Korean War ceasefire in 1953.

The North Korean men’s and hotly-tipped women’s football teams are among the arrivals expected at Incheon International Airport shortly after 7 p.m. on Thursday evening.

Three further groups are set to join them in the next few days to make up an expected final tally of 273 delegation members from the North attending the Games between September 19 and October 4.

Despite the streets of Incheon being free from North Korean flags, protocol would dictate that both the country’s flag and national anthem could potentially feature in medal ceremonies.

The North’s chances of forcing that scenario grew stronger earlier on Thursday, as Incheon’s organizing committee announced that the country would be represented by three current weightlifting Olympic champions.

North Korea enjoyed six golds at the last Asian Games four years ago in Guangzhou, China.

www.aa.com.tr/en