[Anchor]
North Korea's sports ministry says it will not participate in this summer's Tokyo Olympics to protect its athletes from the novel coronavirus.
The ministry's news service said the decision was made in late March.
The BBC's Laura Bicker has this report.
[Reporter]
The country completely sealed its borders in January last year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
So, it's perhaps no surprise that Pyongyang is unwilling to break this countrywide quarantine and send a delegation to Japan in July.
In South Korea, there had been hopes by President Moon that the games would rekindle talks with the North.
The two sides, which are officially still at war, entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics in 2018, which led to a number of historic summits between the countries' leaders.
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