SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea, which cites the coronavirus, has become the first country in the world to leave the Tokyo Olympics.
It is true that the north is extremely sensitive to COVID-19, knowing that a widespread outbreak in a country with an already battered health system could be a disaster.
But North Korea has also previously used major sporting events to establish diplomacy with the United States aimed at earning it much-needed sanctions relief in exchange for promises of nuclear disarmament. Some see it coming out of the Olympics when the north sends a message to Washington.
Here’s a look at North Korea’s decision and what it might mean.
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FEARS OF LEGITIMATE VIRUSES
A state-run website said Tuesday that North Korea’s Olympic Committee decided not to participate in the Tokyo Games that would begin in July “to protect players from the global public health crisis caused by COVID-19.” .
North Korea previously boycotted the Olympics and other international sporting events for political reasons or did not show up when none of its athletes or teams qualified. But this is the first time North Korea has come out of a major international sporting event that cites an infectious disease, according to the Seoul Unification Ministry.
Pyongyang has developed a reputation for withdrawing from talks with Seoul and Washington before returning at the last minute to increase its bargaining power. But given that the country has been on high alert for COVID-19, experts say there is little chance of it reversing its decision on the Olympics.
North Korea has shown “coronavirus-related neurosis since declaring an emergency antivirus system in January last year,” said Park Won Gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University. of Seoul.
Park said North Korea is highly unlikely to get enough vaccines for its 26 million people or to report significant progress in its fight against the virus in July.
North Korean officials know how disastrous a major virus outbreak would be in a nation with public health infrastructure that has been in ruins for decades. To date, North Korea has taken some of the most draconian antivirus measures in the world, including closing international borders for 15 months and exiting foreign nationals.
North Korea still officially says it has no coronavirus, a claim that many foreign experts dispute.
North Korea’s decision to skip the Olympics shows it “thinks contact with foreigners is the most dangerous right now,” Seo Yu-Seok told the Seoul-based Institute of North Korean Studies.
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A MESSAGE FOR WASHINGTON
The North Korean announcement, three months before the Games begin, could indicate that Pyongyang is rejecting Seoul’s repeated push to use the Olympics to create a state of dialogue. It could also show a determination to increase pressure on the new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
North Korea sends the message that it wants to deal directly with the United States instead of using the Olympics as a venue to get to Washington for talks, said Kwak Gil Sup, head of the One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korean affairs. .
Nuclear talks, now blocked, between Pyongyang and Washington began in 2018 after a reconciliation on the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Games in the south earlier this year.
During those Olympics, Korean athletes marched together under a single unification flag during the inauguration ceremony and formed Korea’s first joint women’s ice hockey team. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, became the first member of the North ruling family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
There has been little progress in nuclear talks in the last two years. Recently, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea in the first weapons tests this year. Kim Yo Jong has warned Washington not to “stink” and called the South Korean president “a parrot raised by the United States.”
Experts say North Korea wants to end talks with Biden administration to get relief from sanctions and better ties because its economy has been devastated by the pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters last year. past.
Seo analyst said North Korea was probably unsure of the benefits of attending the Tokyo Games because Biden has made it clear he will not participate in television summits with Kim Jong Un, as did his predecessor Donald Trump .
“They knew they would come home empty-handed from Tokyo,” Seo said.
But North Korea’s internal difficulties may push it to hold talks with the United States soon.
Seo said North Korea could conduct major weapons tests, such as an intercontinental ballistic missile launch, in the coming months if it is not satisfied with the review of the Biden government’s policy on North Korea which ends soon.