North Korea Pulls Out of Tokyo Summer Olympics Over COVID-19 Concerns

A woman with a suitcase wearing a facemask, amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19, sits at a bus stop in front of a Tokyo 2020 Olympics advertisement in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 16, 2020. Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

North Korea on Tuesday became the first country to pull out of this year’s summer Olympics in Tokyo due to COVID-19 concerns.

The announcement was made by North Korea’s Sports Ministry. It marks the first time the country’s athletes will miss a Summer Olympics since it boycotted Seoul in 1988 amid the Cold War.