HONG KONG: FIFA have voided North Korea's results in the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup after they pulled out of the preliminaries earlier this month. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed North Korea's withdrawal on May 15, which followed the country's decision not to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the COVID-19 pandemic. North Korea had been competing in Group H of Asia's preliminaries alongside South Korea, Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka. With North Korea's
With the Games just months away, the regime’s sports ministry says it wants to protect athletes from the ‘global health crisis’. North Korea’s sports ministry said on Tuesday that it will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics this year to protect its athletes amid the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was made at a meeting of North Korea’s Olympic committee, including its sports minister Kim Il guk, on 25 March the ministry said on its website, called Joson Sports. “The committee decided not to join the
North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19. The decision puts an end to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks. In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits. Pyongyang says it has no cases of the virus but experts say this is unlikely. The