North Korea is giving up on the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for this summer due to the risk of coronavirus infections, Pyongyang's Ministry of Sports said today.
In a meeting, the North Korean Olympic Committee "decided not to participate in the 32nd Olympic Games to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by Covid-19", the North Korean department's communications department said.
The participation of the Asian country, a nuclear power isolated from the rest of the world, in the last Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in South Korea was a decisive factor in the spectacular diplomatic rapprochement that took place in 2018. Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un , participated in the Games as an envoy for his brother, and North Korean participation was widely publicized. South Korean President Moon Jae-in took the opportunity to initiate a mediation between Pyongyang and Washington that led to historic summits between Kim and US President Donald Trump. Today's announcement by North Korea puts an end to Seoul's hopes of using the 2020 Games, postponed to this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, to trigger a resumption of the discussion process between Pyongyang and Washington, interrupted by the Failure of a Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi in February 2019. The announcement of Pyongyang's resignation, dated yesterday, was published today on the website of the North Korean Ministry of Sports. It refers to a meeting of the Pyongyang National Olympic Committee on March 25.