North Korea Olympic Committee ‘suspended’ for Tokyo no-show: IOC chief Bach | More sports News

LAUSANNE: The IOC punished North Korea’s Tokyo Games no-show by suspending their National Olympic Committee until the end of 2022, Olympic chief Thomas Bach announced on Wednesday.
The suspension covers the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
“The NOC of the People’s Republic of Korea was the only NOC not participating in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The IOC executive board decided to suspend the NOC until the end of 2022, as a result of this unilateral decision,” Bach told a press conference.
North Korea were the only one of over 200 NOCs not to participate in the delayed 2020 Games in Japan, and as a result broke the Olympic Charter.
Their refusal came after rejecting all of the IOC’s proposals over coronavirus safety protocols.
Bach said if a North Korean athlete qualifies for Beijing the IOC would take “an appropriate decision in due course”.
With the suspension comes the permanent blocking of IOC support which had been withheld due to international sanctions.
And the impoverished isolated state which competed in the last Winter Games held across the Korean border in Pyeongchang in 2018 will miss out on any assistance from the IOC during the suspension.