fears. A website run by the North's Sports Ministry said its national Olympic Committee had decided not to participate in the Games to protect its athletes from the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be the first time North Korea has missed a Summer Olympics since it boycotted Seoul in 1988. It's a blow to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North as the sporting event this summer had been considered one of the last-remaining chances to kickstart the stalled cross border talks before the end of President Moon Jae-in's term next year. When South Korea hosted the Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018, the North Korean leader sent his sister, Kim Yo-jong, to head his delegation and athletes from the two Koreas entered a joint team which led to the initiation of diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S., including a series of historic summits.