In view of the global health crisis and unforeseen difficult circumstances, the opening of the games is “another great victory for socialist China,” Kim was quoted as saying by North Korean state media on Friday. The opening ceremony should take place in the evening (local time).
North Korea itself is not entitled to participate in the major event. The International Olympic Committee had barred the largely closed country from the Olympic community until the end of 2022 after failing to send athletes to last year’s Tokyo Summer Games. In January, North Korea said its absence from the Winter Games was due to “machinations by hostile forces and the global pandemic”.
Relations with China ‘on a higher level’
Together with Xi Jinping, he wants to take the “insurmountable strategic relationship” between the two countries to a “new, higher level,” Kim wrote in his letter of greeting to the Chinese president. China is North Korea’s closest ally.
North Korea recently caused unrest in the region with a series of new missile tests. On Friday, the UN Security Council wanted to deal with North Korea in New York. On Monday, the country confirmed the first test of a nuclear-capable medium-range missile since 2017. Such a missile could also hit the US Pacific island of Guam.
Source: Nachrichten
