N. Korea holds winter sports competition at home after failing to qualify for 2026 Olympics

▲ This image, captured from the Korean Central Television on Jan. 26, 2026, shows a national students' sports competition launched in January 2026 in the city of Samjiyon, Ryanggang Province. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-winter sports

N. Korea holds winter sports competition at home after failing to qualify for 2026 Olympics

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has launched a winter sports competition at home, state media reported Thursday, after the country failed to qualify for this year's Winter Olympics.

The opening ceremony for the ice hockey, figure skating, skiing and two other winter sports competitions took place the previous day at an ice hockey rink in a sports village in the Mount Paektu district of Ryanggang Province, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

About 50 competitions across the five sports categories will be held, the KCNA said, quoting a speaker from the ceremony as calling the event an "important opportunity to advance winter sports skills" to a higher level.

The sports village in the Mount Paektu district, situated on a hill at an altitude of about 1,600 meters, reportedly houses winter sports facilities, including ice rinks, ski slopes and accommodations.

The local sports event comes as North Korea failed to qualify for any events at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, set to run from Friday through Feb. 22.

The North last competed in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, dispatching a team of 22 athletes to compete in five categories.

The country skipped the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It again missed the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing after the International Olympic Committee suspended the country's Olympic Committee over its "unilateral decision" not to participate in the Tokyo Games.

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