North Korea says it won’t participate in the Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic

FILES-OLY-2016-RIO-2020-2021-TOKYO-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY
North Korea's delegation during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro
AFP via Getty Images
Michael Howie6 April 2021

North Korea has become the first country to drop out of the Tokyo Olympics because of coronavirus fears.

A website run by North Korea's Sports Ministry said its national Olympic Committee decided not to participate in the Games to protect athletes from the "world public health crisis caused by Covid-19."

The pandemic has already pushed back the Tokyo Games, which were originally scheduled for 2020, and organisers have scrambled to put in place preventive measures, such as banning international spectators, to ensure the safety of athletes and residents.

However, there is still concern that the Olympics could worsen the spread of the virus and Japan's rising caseload and slow vaccine rollout have raised public questions about whether the Games should be held at all.

Japan's Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that North Korea has not yet notified it that it would not participate in the Tokyo Games.

Katsunobu Kato, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said the government hopes many countries will join the Olympics and he promised ample anti-virus measures.

South Korea's Unification Ministry expressed regret over the North's decision, saying it had hoped that the Tokyo Olympics would provide an opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations, which have declined amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea sent 22 athletes to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, along with government officials, performance artists, journalists and a 230-member all-female cheering group.

At the Pyeongchang Games, the North and South Korean athletes jointly marched under a blue map symbolising a unified Korean Peninsula, while the red-clad North Korean cheerleaders captivated global attention.

The Koreas also fielded their first combined Olympic team in women's ice hockey, which drew passionate support from crowds despite losing all five of its games by a combined score of 28-2.

Those games were also much about politics. The North Korean contingent included the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who conveyed her brother's desire for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a move that helped the North initiate talks with South Korea and the United States.

Diplomatic efforts have been at a stalemate since, and North Korea's decision to sit out the Tokyo Olympics is a setback for hopes to revive it.

While North Korea has steadfastly claimed to be coronavirus-free, outsiders have expressed doubt about whether the country has escaped the pandemic entirely, given its poor health infrastructure and a porous border it shares with China, its economic lifeline.

Describing its anti-virus efforts as a "matter of national existence," North Korea has severely limited cross-border traffic, banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and mobilised health workers with quarantine tens of thousands of people who had shown symptoms.

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