North Korea may join the 2014 Asian Games for athletes with disabilities to be held in the South Korean city of Incheon in October, a charity worker said Wednesday following a recent visit to the communist country.

This is in addition to the North’s announcement of its plan to join the main event of the Incheon Asian Games slated to be held from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. The Para Games are scheduled for Oct. 18-24.

“I held discussions with high-ranking officials from the central committee of North Korea’s disabled protection association on June 16, and they said the North side will positively consider participating in the Incheon Asian Para Games,” said Shin Young-soon, a cohead of the Green Tree Charity Foundation.

The U.S.-based charity group has been providing food and medical equipment to disabled people and medical institutions in the reclusive country. Shin paid an eight-day visit in mid-June to Pyongyang and the Wonsan area, during which she inspected facilities for handicapped people and held a meeting on the sporting event.

“As North Korea has recently shown strong interest in joining international (sport) events, it appears likely that North Korea will participate in the Incheon Asian Para Games,” Shin told Yonhap.

Shin had also helped arrange North Korea’s participation in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

For the upcoming Incheon event, the North is likely to dispatch about a dozen players in four sports, including table tennis, swimming and archery.

It would be the North’s first participation in an Asian Para Games. (Yonhap)