SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea, invoking the coronavirus, became the first country in the world to give up the Tokyo Olympics.
It is true that the North is extremely sensitive to COVID-19, knowing that a widespread outbreak in a country with an already beaten health system could be a disaster.
But North Korea has previously used major sporting events to establish diplomacy with the United States to earn a much-needed reduction in sanctions in exchange for nuclear disarmament commitments. Some see the Olympic Games coming out as the North sends a message to Washington.
Here’s a look at the North Korean decision and what it might mean.
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LEGITIMATE FEAR OF VIRUSES
A state-run website said Tuesday that North Korea’s Olympic Committee had decided not to participate in the Tokyo Games scheduled to begin in July “to protect players from the global public health crisis caused by COVID-19.”
North Korea has previously boycotted the Olympics and other international sporting events for political reasons or did not appear when none of its athletes or teams qualified. But this is the first time North Korea has come out of a major international sporting event that cites an infectious disease, according to the Unification Ministry in Seoul.
Pyongyang has developed a reputation for withdrawing from talks with Seoul and Washington before returning at the last minute to increase its bargaining power. But given that the country has been on high alert about COVID-19, experts say there is little chance that it will reverse its Olympic decision.
North Korea has shown “coronavirus-related neurosis since declaring an emergency antivirus system in January last year,” said Park Won Gon, a North Korean professor of study at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Park said North Korea was unlikely to provide enough vaccines for the 26 million people or report major progress in the fight against the virus by July.
North Korean officials know how disastrous a major virus outbreak would be in a nation with public health care infrastructure that has been in ruins for decades. North Korea has so far taken some of the most draconian antivirus measures in the world, including a 15-month closure of its international borders and the departure of foreign nationals.
North Korea continues to officially claim that it does not have a coronavirus, a claim disputed by many foreign experts.
North Korea’s decision to drop the Olympics says it “considers contact with foreigners the most dangerous thing right now,” Seo Yu-Seok told the Seoul Institute of North Korean Studies.
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A MESSAGE FOR WASHINGTON
The North Korean announcement, three months before the start of the Games, could signal that Pyongyang rejects a repeated push by Seoul to use the Olympic Games to create a state of dialogue. It could also show the determination to increase pressure on the new administration of US President Joe Biden.
North Korea sends message that it wants to deal directly with the US now, rather than use the Olympics as a meeting place in Washington for talks, said Kwak Gil Sup, head of One Korea Center, a North Korean business website .
Blocked nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington began in 2018, after a reconciliation in the Korean Peninsula, following North Korea’s participation in the southern Pyeongchang Winter Games earlier that year.
During those Olympics, Korean athletes marched together under a single unifying flag during the opening ceremony and formed Korea’s first joint ice hockey team. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, became the first member of the northern ruling family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The last two years have seen little progress in nuclear talks. North Korea recently launched two ballistic missiles at sea in the first such weapons tests in a year. Kim Yo Jong warned Washington not to “stink” and called the South Korean president “a parrot raised by America.”
Experts say North Korea is finally wanting talks with the Biden administration to win better sanctions and better ties, as its economy has been devastated by a pandemic, US-led sanctions and natural disasters last year.
The Seo analyst said North Korea was probably unsure of the benefits of participating in the Tokyo Games, as Biden made it clear he would not attend television summits with Kim Jong Un, as did his predecessor Donald Trump.
“They knew they would return home empty-handed from Tokyo,” Seo said.
But North Korea’s internal difficulties could push it to continue talks with the United States soon.
Seo said North Korea could conduct major arms tests, such as launching an intercontinental ballistic missile in the coming months, if it is not satisfied with North Korea’s Biden government policy review, which is expected to be completed soon. .