North Korea says it won't participate in Tokyo Olympics over Covid-19 fears

FILE PHOTO: Kim Il Guk, North Korea's sports minister and the president of the Olympic Committee of North Korea is greeted by North Korean residents in Japan upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda airport [Reuters]

North Korea will not attend this year's Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pyongyang's sports ministry said, blowing the final whistle on Seoul's hopes of using the Games to restart talks with its nuclear-armed neighbour.

The isolated North's participation in the last Winter Games, hosted by the South in Pyeongchang, was a key catalyst in the diplomatic rapprochement of 2018.