North Korea Suspended by International Olympic Committee for 2022, Will Miss Beijing Winter Olympics
Voice of America
North Korea has been banned from the 2022 Beijing Winter Games after the International Olympic Committee suspended the isolated regime for not participating in this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
IOC President Thomas Bach announced the decision Wednesday in Lausanne, telling reporters North Korea was the only nation that failed to send a team to Tokyo, which violated their obligations under the Olympic charter. Pyongyang refused to send a team to Tokyo due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tokyo Olympics were held under a state of emergency imposed due to the growing rate of infections in the Japanese capital and throughout Japan. Bach said the North Korean Olympic Committee will not receive any financial support during the suspension, but added that the IOC reserves the right to consider any North Korean individuals who qualify for the Beijing Olympics, and to even reconsider the duration of the North’s suspension.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.