The diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing by the United States and some of its allies is an “insult” to the Olympic spirit, state media in North Korea said on Friday.
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According to the official KCNA news agency, the North Korean sports authorities have sent a letter to their Chinese counterparts to condemn this diplomatic boycott, under which the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom will not send official representatives in Beijing, even if their athletes will participate well in the competitions.
Washington justified this measure by the human rights situation in China.
“The United States and its vassal forces are less and less concealing their initiatives against China to prevent the successful opening of the Olympic Games,” said the letter quoted by KCNA.
These acts constitute “an insult to the spirit of the International Olympic Charter”, the text continues.
North Korea is the only country to have voluntarily stayed away from the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year, officially for fear of COVID-19.
In response, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in September imposed a suspension on North Korea, which can therefore not participate in the Winter Games in Beijing. The IOC explained at the time that Pyongyang had rejected all its proposals, including the supply of vaccines to North Korean athletes, to participate in the Tokyo Olympics in complete safety.
The letter describes the absence of North Korea as the consequence of the pandemic and the action of “hostile forces”, without mentioning which ones and without mentioning the sanction imposed by the IOC.
North Korea’s absence from the Beijing Games will contrast sharply with its highly visible presence at the previous Winter Games, in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had attended some events, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in took the opportunity to try to advance the rapprochement between Pyongyang and Washington.