By S. Silver
The 2022 Winter Olympics are taking place in Beijing, China, with ninety-one countries taking part in the games. But North Korea, an ally of Beijing, which even borders China, is not represented in Beijing. Why didn't North Korea field a team at the current Olympics?
In January, North Korea announced through state media that it would not send athletes or other dignitaries to Beijing. “We were unable to participate in the Olympic Games due to the actions of hostile forces and the worldwide pandemic,” North Korea said in a letter, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea sent athletes to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and the two Korean teams' Olympic teams even came out together at the opening ceremony and joined forces for the women's ice hockey team. But this year it won't be. In fact, North Korea has not competed in any international sports competition since the start of the pandemic.
However, according to Al Jazeera, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un congratulated China on the start of the games.
"The successful opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, despite the global health crisis and unprecedentedly difficult circumstances, is another great victory won by socialist China," said Kim Jong-un in congratulations to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim also promised to "steadily develop the relationship between the two sides and the two countries to a new high level."
Ties between countries are "cemented into an invincible strategic relationship that can never be broken by anything in the struggle to protect and advance the common cause," Kim said in the letter.
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