North Korea has named a new sports minister ahead of the 2014 Asian Games competition to be held in South Korea later this year, the state news agency said Tuesday.

Kim Yong-hun has replaced Ri Jong-mu as the country’s minister of physical culture and sports, according to a dispatch of the Korean Central News Agency.

The dispatch said Kim accompanied leader Kim Jong-un in a ceremony on giving sports apparatuses and equipment to gymnasiums and stadiums in Pyongyang.

The dispatch did not give any details on the replacement.

Ri, who was named as sports minister in October 2012, kept his job in April when the North announced members of a new Cabinet.

North Korea said last week that it will send a delegation to the Asian Games set to be held in Incheon, a port city just west of Seoul, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4.

The North’s decision comes amid lingering tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.

Last week, the two Koreas exchanged fire near their tense western sea border, though no casualties were reported. (Yonhap)