SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea became the first country to leave the Tokyo Olympics because of fears of coronavirus, a decision that underscores the challenges facing Japan when it struggles to host an event world sports in the midst of a furious pandemic.
A website run by North Korea’s Ministry of Sports said its national Olympic committee decided during a March 25 meeting not to participate in the Games to protect athletes from the “global public health crisis caused by COVID -19 “.
The pandemic has already pushed back the Tokyo Games, which were initially scheduled for 2020, and organizers have struggled to put in place preventive measures, such as a ban on international spectators, to ensure the safety of athletes and residents. .
However, it is still concerned that the Olympics could worsen the spread of the virus and that the rise of cases in Japan and the slow deployment of vaccines have raised public questions about whether the Games should be held.
The Japan Olympic Committee said Tuesday that North Korea has not yet notified it that it will not participate in the Tokyo Games.
Katsunobu Kato, chief secretary of Japan’s cabinet, said the government expects many countries to join the Olympics and promised anti-virus measures.
The South Korean Unification Ministry expressed regret over the North’s decision, saying it hoped the Tokyo Olympics would provide an opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations, which have eased into a stalemate in nuclear negotiations. largest 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 women’s entertainment group.
At the Pyeongchang Games, North and South Korean athletes marched together under a blue map symbolizing a united Korean peninsula, while red-clad North Korean cheerleaders captivated worldwide attention. The Koreans also presented their first Olympic women’s combined ice hockey team, which garnered passionate support from the crowd despite losing all five games by a combined 28-2 record.
These games were also closely related to politics. The North Korean contingent included the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who conveyed his brother’s wish for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a move that helped the North to start talks with South Korea and the United States.
Diplomatic efforts have been at a standstill since then, and North Korea’s decision to host the Tokyo Olympics is a setback for hopes of reviving it.
Although North Korea has firmly stated that it has no coronavirus, outsiders have expressed doubts about whether the country has completely escaped the pandemic, given its poor health infrastructure and the 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, expelled diplomats and mobilized health workers with forty tens of thousands of people. who had shown symptoms.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga previously said he hoped to invite U.S. President Joe Biden to the Olympics and that he was willing to meet with Kim Jong Un or his sister if he attended the Games. Suga, however, did not say whether he would invite either.
Experts say pandemic border closures have further shaken North Korea’s economy, already torn apart by decades of mismanagement, aggressive military spending and US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.
Economic setbacks have left Kim with nothing to show for his ambitious diplomacy with former President Donald Trump, who derailed disagreements over exchanging sanctions and nuclear disarmament steps in the North.
Kim in recent political speeches has pledged to strengthen his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S.-led pressure, and his government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s openness to talks, demanding that Washington abandon their “hostile” policies first.
The North ended a one-year hiatus last month in ballistic test activity by firing two short-range missiles off its east coast, continuing the tradition of testing new U.S. administrations with gun demonstrations aimed at measure Washington’s response and obtain concessions.
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AP writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to the report.