Covid-19: North Korea gives up participating in the Tokyo Olympics
The North Korean delegation at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, February 12, 2010. Getty Images via AFP - CAMERON SPENCER
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Pyongyang Olympic Committee made this decision on Monday April 6 "in
order to protect its athletes from the Covid-19 crisis
".
An announcement that sounds like a blow to South Korean President Moon Jae-in who had the ambition to use the event to get closer to the North Korean neighbor.
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With our correspondent in Seoul,
Nicolas Rocca
Given the near total closure of North Korea since the start of the pandemic, its non-participation in the Tokyo Olympics does not seem surprising.
The country continues to assert that the virus has not crossed its borders despite the doubts of experts and prefers to play the card of absolute isolation in the face of Covid-19.
This decision published on Monday on the website of the Ministry of Sports is nonetheless a disappointment for the South Korean authorities.
Gone are
the dreams of a new rapprochement between the two Koreas thanks to the Olympic Games.
Meeting in Pyeongchang
In 2018, on the occasion of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the event had been central in that year which saw Kim Jong-Un and Moon Jae-in, the leaders of the two countries, meet in the joint security zone.
This new missed opportunity also makes a possible rapprochement between the two countries under the mandate of the South Korean Democratic President more hypothetical.
During the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, Moon Jae-in will no longer be president.
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To read also: North Korea accuses Joe Biden of "
interference
" and "
provocation
"
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North Korea
Kim Jong-un
Olympic Games
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