According to sports authorities in Mexico, the Mexican national taekwondo team led by double Olympic medalist Maria Espinoza, left South Korea yesterday before military tensions with North Korea got worse.

"They're doing the paperwork for the team, which has more than 40 members, so that they can return to Mexico as soon as possible," said Jesus Mena to the press, who is also director of the National Sports Commission (CONADE in Spanish).

Mena confirmed that the president of the Mexican Federation of Taekwondo, Juan Lopez, called him yesterday morning and requested for him to end the training camp in South Korea, where every year the team goes and completes a series of training sessions.

North Korea reactivated its main nuclear reactor yesterday and the country's president, Kim Jong-Un, declared the country at war with its southern neighbor.

The Mexican team traveled to South Korea on Friday as part of their preparation for the World Championships to be held in July in the city of Puebla in Mexico.

Taekwondo is the sport that has given Mexico the most wins so far this century with six medals at the last four Olympic Games, where a gold medal was obtained by Maria Espinoza, a gold medal for Guillermo Perez at Beijing 2008, and a silver medal for Oscar Salazar (Athens 2004) , bronze medal for Victor Estrada (Sydney 2000), bronze medal for Iridia Salazar (Athens 2004) and also a bronze medal for Maria Espinoza (London 2012).

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