North Korea says it won't send athletes to the Tokyo Olympics

North Korea's cheerleaders at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
(Image credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

North Korea on Monday said it will not participate in this summer's Tokyo Olympics, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement was made via a website run by North Korea's sports ministry, The Associated Press reports, with officials saying the decision not to send athletes to the games was made during a meeting in late March. Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa told reporters she is still working on confirming details on the matter.

In 2018, 22 North Korean athletes competed in the Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and were supported by a 230-member cheer squad. North and South Korean athletes marched together under a flag that symbolized a unified Korean peninsula, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, attended the games and made an overture on behalf of her brother, letting South Korea know he wanted to have a summit with President Moon Jae-in.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

South Korea's Unification Ministry on Tuesday said it had been hoping this year's Olympics could be used to improve relations between the two countries.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.