BEIJING, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Olympic and world judo champion Kye Sun-Hui is spearheading North Korea's quest to end a 12-year gold-medal drought at what it hopes will be its best ever Olympics.

Success will also snap a personal 12-year drought after Kye became the youngest Olympic judo gold medallist when she won the 48kg final as a 16-year-old during the 1996 Atlanta Games.

North Korea failed to strike gold in Sydney and Athens but has targetted at least 10 medals here before the communist state's 60th birthday next month.

The 29-year-old Kye kept her mouth shut when she was hounded by South Korean reporters on arrival in Beijing on Tuesday and maintained her silence during training on Wednesday.

But the most medalled North Korean had earlier told Chinese media in Pyongyang that she had only one goal.

'That is to be crowned in Beijing. The gold medal will be more valuable than those I have gained ever before.'

Since beating Japan's world champion Ryoko Tani in the Atlanta final, Kye has stepped up to higher weights, taking the 52kg bronze in Sydney and silver in the 57kg class at Athens.

She has been more successful at the world championships, triumphing in the 52kg in 2002 before winning three consecutive 57kg titles.

North Korea has assembled its largest ever Olympic delegation for Beijing sending a team of 134 including 63 competitors.

'They are bristling with determination to achieve good results and enhance the fatherland's honor,' Jong Hae-Man, vice president of the impoverished communist state's Olympic Committee, has told official media.

Since North Korea first took part in the Summer Olympics in 1972 its most successful performance was at the 1992 Barcelona Games when they won nine medals including four gold.

Rival South Korea has sent 267 athletes here, also with the aim of winning at least 10 gold medals.

But its call for a joint march with North Korea at the opening and closing ceremonies as in 2000 and 2004 has been snubbed amid worsening ties since South Korea's conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office in February.