North Korea declining to send athletes to South Korea games

GWANGJU, South Korea, June 22 (UPI) -- A message that appeared to be of North Korean origin said Pyongyang has decided not to send a team to take part in the 2015 Gwangju Universiade.

The notice, written in English, was delivered to the South Korean organizing committee of the event, South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Sinmun reported.

Yonhap reported the letter was addressed to Eric Saintrond, secretary-general of the International University Sports Federation, the organizer of the 2015 Summer Universiade.

The message cited various political reasons for the team's refusal to attend the international sporting event, scheduled to take place in July.

According to the letter, North Korea's decision not to participate is directly linked to the establishment of a U.N. human rights office in Seoul tasked with monitoring the human rights situation in North Korea.

The opening of the office in South Korea complies with a U.N. Commission of Inquiry recommendation published in February 2014, and Pyongyang has blasted the U.N. move.

The message, sent Friday, also cited Seoul's "military confrontation" and a "serious atmosphere of...fratricidal war" as drawbacks toward a conciliatory atmosphere between the two Koreas.

Kim Yong-hyun of South Korea's Dongguk University said that if North Korea has decided not to send a team to the South, another channel to mend relations has disappeared, and with it greater difficulties face the task of North-South detente.