It follows the cancelling - or postponement - of a planned Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by United States President Donald Trump earlier this week.

The Korea Table Tennis Association said earlier this month that they were planning on sending a team of 10 players north of the border to the ITTF event taking place in the North Korean capital from June 13 to 17.

They reportedly said that they hoped to send a strong squad who will also appear at this year's Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.

But the final entry deadline passed on Thursday (May 24) with no South Korean players entered in either the male or female competitions.

The 38 male entries consist of seven from China and 21 from the host nation as well as four from Vietnam, two apiece from Mongolia and Ivory Coast and one each from Iran and Scotland.

On the women's side, 23 North Korean players are joined by three each from China and Vietnam, two from Iran and Ivory Coast and one from Mongolia.

No final confirmation of their participating intentions or reasons for not being present has been given by the South.

North and South Korean players participated together in an ad-hoc unified team in the semi-finals of the World Team Championships in Halmstad earlier this month.

Kim Song-I, the Olympic singles bronze medallist who featured in the unified team's semi-final defeat Japan, is among those entered.

Sports bodies including the ITTF and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have sought to gain political capital from Korean diplomacy after the North's participation at February's Winter Olympics over the border in Pyeongchang,

Athletes from the North and South marched together at the Olympic Opening Ceremony and participated together as part of a unified female ice hockey team.

Kim also reportedly committed to his country participating at Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 during a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach in Pyongyang in March.

"The commitment of the IOC to build bridges on the Korean peninsula and in the region continues, and is as strong as ever," the IOC told Reuters after the cancelling of the Summit.

"Our work...will continue and is not affected in any way by the cancellation or postponement of the Summit."

Organisers of the inaugural Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games, meanwhile, claim to be hopeful that North Korea will participate in San Diego in 2019. 

"You may see some North Koreans in [beach] karate, you may see North Koreans in beach wrestling," said San Diego Organising Committee chief executive Willie Banks, according to the Times of San Diego, during the unveiling of the final sports programme this week.

North Korea is also expected to participate at the ANOC General Assembly taking place alongside the event late next year.