North Korea said its athletes would skip the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics despite the closeted nation already being suspended from participation.
State-run media claimed the pandemic was the reason for the decision but made no mention of the International Olympic Committee in September barring North Korea from taking part in the games through 2022 after refusing to send a team to the Tokyo Summer Games.
“We could not take part in the Olympics due to the hostile forces’ moves and the worldwide pandemic,” declared a letter from North Korea’s Olympic committee and sports ministry that state media said was sent to China, the Associated Press reported Friday. The letter did not specify the origin of the hostile forces.
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North Korea also took the opportunity to praise its Chinese counterparts. “We would fully support the Chinese comrades in all their work to hold splendid and wonderful Olympic festival,” the letter said, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency.
Other countries are boycotting next month’s Olympics in China in some form.
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The United States, Canada, and Australia are among those that have announced they will not be sending diplomatic delegations over what they said are human rights violations by the Chinese government. Athletes from these countries are still expected to compete in the games, which begin Feb. 4.
“The US and its vassal forces are getting evermore undisguised in their moves against China aimed at preventing the successful opening of the Olympics,” North Korea’s Olympic committee and sports ministry said in the letter.
