The Charter states: “The NOCs have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games In addition, each NOC is obliged to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes.” The IOC said that through “various communications and discussions” it held with the North Korean Olympic Committee over the months leading up to the Tokyo Games, it had “provided reassurances for the holding of safe Games and offered constructive proposals to find an appropriate and tailor-made solution until the very last minute (including the provision of vaccines).” These offers, it said, were “systematically rejected” by the North. IOC President Thomas Bach said that by failing to participate in the Tokyo Games, North Korea was in violation of the Olympic Charter. The IOC said that the “accrued financial support from the IOC, that was due to be allocated to the but had been withheld due to international sanctions, will be definitively forfeited.” Individual athletes from North Korea who qualify to compete in the Beijing Olympics could still be accepted if an “appropriate decision” is taken by the IOC in the future. This unspecified amount could potentially be millions of dollars. North Korea’s Olympic Committee will also have to forfeit money it was due from previous Olympics, which has been withheld because of international sanctions. The North’s Olympic Committee will be ineligible for any financial or program assistance from the IOC for the next 15 months, the period of the suspension. "The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee today decided to suspend the Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (PRK NOC) until the end of 2022, as a result of the NOC's unilateral decision not to participate in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020," the IOC said in a statement on its website, referring to the North by its official name. The North’s suspension puts a damper on the Moon Jae-in government’s hopes that the Beijing Winter Games, set to kick off next February, might serve as a venue to reengage Pyongyang. The IOC’s executive board decided to suspend North Korea’s National Olympic Committee through the end of 2022 for ignoring its safety reassurances, including an offer to provide Covid-19 vaccines, and violating the Olympic Charter. North Korea is barred from participating in next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Wednesday, after skipping the Tokyo Games this summer over fears of Covid-19. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, President Moon Jae-in, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister, and other officials from Seoul and Pyongyang pose with the inter-Korean women’s ice hockey at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February 2018.