A North Korean delegate (3rd from L) scuffles with South Korean anti-North Korea protesters (R) as South Korean police try to separate them

DAEGU, South Korea, August 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - North Korea will consider withdrawing from the World Student Games if there is any repeat of Sunday's protest against the communist regime, a top official warned.

Scuffles broke out on Sunday when members of the North Korean press corps tackled a dozen people demonstrating outside the main media center here, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"We cannot but reconsider our participation if anti-Republic protests continue under the protection of hundreds of policemen like this," Jeon Kuk-Man, head of the North Korean delegation, told a press conference.

Jeon, reading from a three-page prepared statement, also demanded an apology from the South Korean government.

"The South must take full responsibility and immediately punish the people responsible, and apologies to us as well as guarantee that such an incident will not occur again," he said.

About 100 riot police and another 40 police officers moved in as four members of the North Korean official press corps confronted a dozen protesters demonstrating against Pyongyang's communist regime.

Norbert Vollertsen, a German activist who had appeared at the demonstration wearing a neck brace and supported by crutches, collapsed to the floor and was later taken, in obvious distress, by trolley to a nearby ambulance.

Vollertsen was midway through an anti-North Korean speech when the four members of the Pyongyang press delegation pushed through the crowd of reporters to break up the demonstration.

The melee spread across the forecourt of the press center and then inside the building as the North Koreans extricated themselves from the fighting and ran back to their offices.

Police later said there had been no arrests or injuries during the incident, which is thought to be the first time North Koreans have scuffled with protesters in the south.

One of the North Koreans later said they would lodge a protest.

"They cannot insult the general (Kim Jong-Il) so publicly like that. This is an unbearable insult to the DPRK. We are going to have a press conference (to lodge a protest)," a North Korean journalist said earlier, according to Yonhap news agency.

One North Korean journalist suffered a cut finger and a torn shirt during the incident, Yonhap said.

Meanwhile one of the protesters described the incident as a "terrorist act".

"This is a terrorist act by North Korea against a peaceful protest," said Shin Hye-Sik.

The World Student Games, a junior Olympics whose slogan is 'Dream of Unity', has been beset by controversy since North Korea threatened to pull out of the event last week.

The North Koreans agreed to take part in the event, only their second multinational tournament in the south since 1948, when South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun expressed regret for anti-Pyongyang protests in Seoul.

Yonhap said Sunday's protest was carried out by the same activists who were responsible for the Seoul demonstration.

The games were hit by further controversy when the South Korean intelligence agency warned of what they called a possible "Islamic extremist" attack, prompting a tightening of security around athletes and venues on the day of the opening ceremony.

The demonstration on Sunday, organized by a coalition of anti-North Korean groups from Seoul, had intended to accuse local media of paying too much attention to the North Koreans in their news reports.

The North Korean delegation includes 302 cheerleaders, 106 officers and 24 press along with its 94 athletes. The team and its cheering squad have been the focus of intense media coverage since its arrival last week.

The protesters held up photographs of emaciated children and banners reading "Down with Kim Jong-Il, rescue our brethren", referring to North Korea's reclusive leader.