North Korea's Olympic dreams are dead -- the country has pulled out of the Tokyo Games claiming the threat of COVID is simply too dangerous for its athletes.
Officials broke the news on a state-run website ... explaining the decision to bail on the Games was made during a March 25 conference call involving leaders of the country's Olympic Committee.
Here's the statement (translated by Google):
"The Olympic Committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea decided not to participate in the 32nd Olympic Games on the proposal of the members to protect our athletes from the global public health crisis caused by the vicious virus infectious disease.