North Korea pulled out of Tokyo 2020 due to COVID-19 fears, prompting increased concern that it could be the first of more withdrawals amid the ongoing pandemic.
The announcement was made on a website run by the North Korean sports ministry.
The Japanese government’s top spokesperson, Kato Katsunobu, told a press conference on Tuesday that Japan would continue with its countermeasures to the coronavirus “so that many countries and regions can take part in the Tokyo Games”.
Japan currently faces an increasing number of COVID-19 cases while also dealing with a slow vaccine rollout.
That has heightened worries among Japanese of holding the postponed Games.
It is unclear how many North Korean athletes could have participated anyway, given that they have not been allowed to travel and compete at Olympic qualifying events since the country closed its borders early in 2020.
North Korea’s decision also ends the Japanese government’s hopes of holding direct talks during the Olympics on the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
North Korea sent 22 athletes to the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.
Some of them were part of a combined Korean women’s ice hockey team, a first for the two countries amid a major diplomatic breakthrough.
But the thaw in relations has not been sustained since then.
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