FROM war-ravaged Afghanistan to reclusive North Korea, it will be a full house next week for the first time in the 52-year history of the Asian Games.

　　All 43 member nations of the games’ governing body — the Olympic Council of Asia — will compete in the 14th Asian Games to be held in the South Korean coastal city of Busan from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.

　　North Korea made a last-minute decision to compete in the Asian edition of the Olympics. Even the world’s newest nation, East Timor, will join the games as a guest.

　　“With the most countries participating ever, this year’s event is already a success,” said Eum Doo-wan, a director at the games’ organizing committee.

　　But the games’ biggest achievement will be the attendance of North Korea. Until now, it has shunned all international sporting events in South Korea, including this year’s soccer World Cup.

　　The North Korean participation is part of a recent thaw in inter-Korean relations. The North plans to send 318 athletes and officials and a bigger cheering squad.

　　“North Korea’s participation shows the yearning of the two Koreas for peace and reconciliation,” South Korean President Kim Dae-jung told a group of civic activists last week.

　　Athletes of the two Koreas will march together during the opening and closing ceremonies, behind a “unification flag” with a blue image of the Korean peninsula on a white background, instead of their national flags. They will sing “Arirang,” a traditional Korean folk song, instead of their national anthems.

　　With about 10 days to go yesterday before the opening, ticket sales were sluggish. Last week, organizers said only 99,000 tickets, or 3.7 percent, of the 2.7 million tickets available have been sold.

　　Organizers expect public interest in the games to rise when the competition begins.

　　Up for grabs are 419 gold medals in 38 events ranging from highly popular soccer to kabaddi — a type of team tag that combines elements of rugby and wrestling which is little known outside Southeast Asia.

　　(SD-Agencies)