KBS World Radio 17th Asian Games INCHEON 2014

The Incheon Asian Games are set to kick off this week, making it the third time they’ve been held in South Korea, following the Seoul Asian Games in 1986 and the Busan Asian Games in 2002. The opening ceremony is slated to be held at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium at 6 p.m. on September 19.
The event will feature every country of the 45-member Olympic Council of Asia, as North Korea decided to send its athletes to Incheon. In total, around 13,000 athletes and officials across the continent will participate in the Incheon Asian Games. The athletes will compete for a total of 439 gold medals in 36 categories.
A week before the games start, Team Korea held a team-building ceremony last Thursday at Olympic Park in Seoul, where they vowed to accomplish a top two finish at the upcoming sporting event.
South Korea hopes to win at least 90 gold medals and finish as a runner-up to China. It’s not such a lofty goal, considering Team Korea has finished as a runner-up for four consecutive Asian Games.
At the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010, South Korea won 76 gold medals, following host China, who made a clean sweep with 199 gold medals. Japan came in third with 48 gold medals. South Korea also won 65 silver medals and 91 bronze medals at Guangzhou.
With more than a thousand members, including 831 athletes, Team Korea has the largest ever delegation participating in the Asian Games.
Some observers are wondering whether the North’s participation could bring any notable change in the bumpy relations between the two Koreas. Expectations were lowered when Pyongyang decided not to send its cheering squad to Incheon, but some still have hopes that the two Koreas might find momentum for improving bilateral relations at the event.
The 16-day competition is also expected to give South Korea, China and Japan a chance to set aside their long-running three-way competition over historical and territorial issues, and try to prove their superiority against one another in the sports arena.