▲ World Baseball Softball Confederation President Riccardo Fraccari (L) shakes hands with Park Chon-jong, North Korea's vice minister of physical culture and sports, in this undated photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-baseball

(LEAD) World Baseball Softball Confederation president visits N. Korea: KCNA

(ATTN: UPDATES with N. Korea's membership application)

SEOUL, July 20 (Yonhap) -- The president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation is visiting North Korea, the country's state media said Sunday, without providing details.

A WBSC delegation headed by Riccardo Fraccari arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday and was greeted at the airport by Park Chon-jong, vice minister of physical culture and sports, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief dispatch.

An article posted Friday on the WBSC website said the confederation's executive board approved new members -- North Korea's Baseball Association and the Baseball & Softball Federation of Luxembourg.

All new memberships are subject to final endorsement at the upcoming WBSC Congress to be held in Bangkok in October, it said.

Baseball and softball are not known to be popular sports in North Korea.

During a visit to South Korea in 2014, Fraccari expressed his openness to visiting North Korea to promote baseball.

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