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North Korea to skip Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (in 2021)dossier

With this decision, the North Korean Olympic Committee, which wishes to “protect athletes from the health crisis”, ends South Korean hopes of using the Olympics to restart discussions with Pyongyang.

North Korea will not win a medal this summer at the Tokyo Olympics. The North Korean Olympic Committee explained on Tuesday that it did not want to participate in the Olympics in order to “Protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by Covid-19”. The announcement comes as dictator Kim Jong Un, who made the decision in January 2020 to close the borders of the neighboring country to China, continues to assert that North Korea has no cases of Covid-19. However, Pyongyang recently made a request for nearly 2 million doses of vaccine against the coronavirus, according to the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), a member of the UN Covax program.

It is a blow to the South Korean authorities who counted on the sporting event to restart talks with Pyongyang. “We wanted the Summer Olympics in Japan to be an opportunity to promote reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas, but it is regrettable that this is not possible”, reacted an official of the Ministry of Unification, reports the South Korean news agency Yonhap. “The two Koreas have had several opportunities to have a unified team for various international sports competitions, and both sides have experience of increasing peace and cooperation through inter-Korean sports exchanges. Our government will continue to seek similar opportunities in sport and elsewhere. ”

Pyongyang more isolated than ever

In 2018, during the last Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the participation of North Korea allowed the beginning of diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries. Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, had indeed attended the Games as her brother’s envoy. Two months later, the leaders of the two countries met in the Joint Security Zone. During this highly symbolic day, Kim Jong Un had crossed the demarcation line (DMZ) to set foot in the South. A first for a leader of the North. South Korean President Moon Jae-in then seized the opportunity to initiate a mediation between North Korea and the United States which led to historic summits between the North Korean leader and US President Donald Trump .

Today, relations between Pyongyang and Washington – as between the two Koreas – have come to a standstill since the failure of the summit in Hanoi in February 2019. However, the announcement made on Tuesday by Pyongyang puts an end to the hopes of Seoul to use the 2020 Games to restart discussions.

Coronavirus was probably not the only reason for North Korea’s withdrawal from the Games, according to a South Korean analyst: “Pyongyang appears to be protesting Japan’s policy towards North Korea, as sensitive issues like human rights and sanctions were raised in Tokyo in concert with the United States,” Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. With its borders closed, North Korea, hit by numerous international sanctions because of its nuclear weapons and missile programs prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions, is now more isolated than ever from the world. rest of the world.

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