North Korea said it spurned a recent...

North Korea said it spurned a recent Olympic soccer qualifying tournament in Malaysia because it intends to co-host next year’s Summer Games with South Korea.

In a dispatch carried by the official (North) Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Tokyo, an unidentified spokesman for the North Korean Football Assn. said that North Korea intentionally did not apply for the preliminaries held last month.

The International Olympic Committee has agreed that four Olympic events may be held in North Korea--soccer, archery, table tennis and cycling. Under Olympic rules, the host country automatically qualifies for the tournament.