PARIS: France will not attend the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea if the current international stand-off over North Korea's atomic weapons programme worsens and security cannot be guaranteed, the country's sports minister said Thursday. "If this gets worse and we do not have our security assured, then our French team will stay here," Laura Flessel told RTL radio. Flessel is the first leading politician to publically cast doubt over a country's participation at the Olympics which run from Feb 9-25 in Pyeongchang, which is situated just 80km from the heavily-fortified frontier with North Korea. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump warned leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that the United States may have to destroy North Korea if Kim Jong-Un's nuclear-armed regime threatens its neighbours. "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea," he said.

Source: New Strait Times September 22, 2017 00:56 UTC