By Kang Seung-woo

South Korea and North Korea will hold a disabled table tennis competition in September ahead of the Asian Para Games in Incheon if the North decides to participate in the quadrennial sports event, a charity leader said Friday.

"I had discussions with high-ranking officials from the central committee of North Korea's association for protection of the disabled about holding the table tennis contest," Green Tree Charity Foundation co-head Shin Young-soon.

Shin visited Pyongyang and the Wonsan area during an eight-day trip in mid-June. She discussed the Para Games and inspected facilities for disabled people.

The foundation is a U.S.-based charity group that has supplied food and medical equipment to disabled people and medical institutions in North Korea.

Shin's comments come amid growing speculation that the North could send its athletes to the Para Games, scheduled for Oct. 18-24.

According to Shin, North Korea has recently shown strong interest in joining international sports events. It was therefore likely to participate at Incheon.

The North did not take part in the inaugural event in Guangzhou, China, four years ago, but it sent athletes to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, with the foundation's help.

On the sidelines of the table-tennis, the two sides talked about organizing a friendly match between South Korea's Hyun Jung-hwa and North Korea's Li Pun-hui, both of whom were members of unified Team Korea that won the women's team event at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1991.

"As the match symbolizes North-South reconciliation, there will be extra significance. I will try my best to make it happen," Shin said.

Hyun, now Korea Table Tennis Association executive director, welcomed the idea.

"If the North Korean team visits South Korea, I would definitely meet Li and accept a proposal of a friendly match with her."

The Green Tree Charity Foundation is negotiating with the Korean Paralympics Committee and the Incheon Asian Para Games organizing committee to hold the match.

"If the North proposes a friendly match, we will actively cooperate with it," said Incheon Games secretary-general Seo Jung-kyu.