INTERNATIONAL: The International Olympic Committee has suspended North Korea over its decision to boycott Tokyo 2022. It was the only country that failed to send a team to the Summer Games. The suspension will run until the end of 2022, meaning North Korea will be banned from competing at next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.

IOC President Thomas Bach says the decision means the North Korean Olympic Committee will not receive any financial support during its suspension, in addition to forfeiting support that had previously been withheld due to sanctions:

"With regard to Tokyo, we also had to address the fact that the only National Olympic Committee which did not participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo was the National Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. With its non-participation, they were violating the Olympic charter and did not fulfil their obligation, as stated in the Olympic charter, to participate in the games of the Olympiad by sending athletes. Therefore, the IOC executive board addressed this situation and decided today that the National Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea is suspended until the end of the year 2022, as a result of its unilateral decision not to participate in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been notified of the IOC’s decision. His own decision not to send athletes to Tokyo was based on the pandemic. North Korea claims there hasn’t been one case of Covid-19 reported in the country. It was also the first to close its borders when the pandemic was first reported last year. At a recent Youth Rally in the capital, Pyongyang, though, observers were quick to note that every one of the 10,000 participants was wearing a mask.

^{Photo: NEWS CONFERENCE WITH IOC PRESIDENT, THOMAS BACH, SAYING NORTH KOREA IS SUSPENDED FROM IOC, SPEAKING ABOUT EVACUATION OF ATHLETES FROM AFGHANISTAN, POTENTIAL CHANGES IN FIFA WORLD CUP CYCLE}