Pyongyang will host an international pro-wrestling event in late August, North Korea state media announced this week.
The contest will be jointly organized by Kanji Inoki, better known as Antonio Inoki, currently a member of the upper house of Japan’s Diet and, famously, a former professional wrestler himself. Inoki, 71, will be partnering with North Korea’s International Martial Arts Games Committee Chairman Jang Ung to organize the event, the Korean Central News Agency said on Monday.
“World famous pro wrestlers from Japan, the U.S. and other countries will take part in the contest to be held under the theme of independence, peace and friendship,” the North’s state news agency said on Monday.
Inoki visited the North in January and met with Kim Yong Il, secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in charge of international affairs, and exchanged views on a possible future sports exchange event in Pyongyang.
This is not the first time Inoki has organized a wrestling event in Pyongyang. He put together a similar event in April 1995, reportedly attracting about 380,000 local attendees over two days.
Bilateral relations between North Korean and Japan have been improving gradually. The two countries are due to hold government-level talks on May 26-28 in Stockholm, Sweden, during which Japanese officials are expected to bring up the cases of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 80s.
[Image via Wikipedia]
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