North Korea is sending about 60 athletes to next month’s Summer Games in Beijing, its second largest Olympic squad ever, state media reported yesterday.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the communist nation will compete in 10 disciplines during the 8-24 August Olympics, including boxing, wrestling, table tennis and swimming.

The size of the North’s squad is the second largest since it sent 75 athletes to the 1992 Games in Barcelona, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. The North sent 36 athletes to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The North is sending a larger delegation apparently because of its geographic and political closeness to China, ministry official Lee Jeong-taek said. Beijing is Pyongyang’s major ally and a main aid donor to the communist nation.

The North’s No. 2 official, Kim Yong Nam, is also reportedly attending the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games.