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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday it will send a cheering squad to the coming Asian Games in rival South Korea that its athletes plan to attend.

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A North Korean statement said the dispatch of its cheering squad to the games, set for Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 in the South Korean city of Incheon, is aimed at promoting reconciliation between the rivals.

The statement released via state media repeated the country’s demands the two Koreas halt mutual slandering and Seoul scrap military drills with Washington that it calls an invasion rehearsal. South Korean and U.S. officials have said their drills are defensive in nature.

North Korea had dispatch the cheering squad of mostly young women — dubbed an “army of beauties” in South Korea — at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the 2003 University Games in Daegu and the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon.

The group often received more attention than the North’s athletes.