The International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday that it has suspended North Korea’s National Olympic Committee through the end of 2022 after it chose not to participate in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
The IOC executive board’s decision bans a North Korean delegation from entering the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which begins in less than five months. The suspension also excludes the NOC from receiving financial or programmatic support from the IOC for the next 15-plus months.
North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was the only one of 206 National Olympic Committees to withdraw from Tokyo.