LN: Czech figure skater dances at Kim Jong-il's birthday feast

Prague, Feb 17 (CTK) - Czech figure skater Tomas Verner, 24, bronze medallist from the 2011 European Figure Skating Championships, took part in a figure-skating exhibition within the celebrations of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's birthday in Pyongyang these days, Lidove noviny (LN) reports Thursday.

"Tomas is very popular in North Korea. I mean among ordinary people and not politicians," Lukas Pribyl, from the Sport Invest company, representing Verner, said.

He added that Verner had never been involved in political activities.

Czech diplomacy was not much enthusiastic about Verner's trip to he country with a tough totalitarian regime, LN writes.

Nevertheless, Czech authorities have not interfered in Verner's participation in Kim Jong-il's birthday celebrations.

"We cannot ban any athlete or artist from travelling or performing abroad. It is up to him/her," Foreign Ministry spokesman Vit Kolar told the paper.

Pribyl confirmed that the trip to North Korea was Verner's private activity. It was a part of his Asian tour during which he will visit China, Japan and South Korea, he added.

The Czech Olympic Committee (COV) only said it had not sent Verner to North Korea and consequently, it would not assess his visit.

Figure skaters from other countries, such as France and Russia, also went to Pyongyang to participate in the programme of the birthday celebrations, the Russian ITAR-TASS press agency reported, LN writes.

Verner said before his departure that he had been to North Korea ten years ago and would like to see how the country had changed.

"I did not want to think of it this way. I am an athlete and not a politician," LN cites Verner as saying in reaction to a mention about the North Korean cruel communist regime.

However, Kolar pointed out that even a seemingly apolitical event in North Korea had political dimensions.

"I hope that they (athletes traveling to Pyongyan) will realise that their colleagues athletes and artists in North Korea are prevented from travelling, practicing sport and creating art freely exactly due to Kim Jong-il," Kolar told LN.