North Korea decided to send 280 athletes, coaches, and staff to the Hangzhou Asian Games and the first wave of its delegation, NK soccer team, arrived in China on Sept 15th.
Beginning with a soccer match against Taiwan on the 19th, the North Koreans will participate in 17 events including swimming, boxing, gymnastics, wrestling and women’s basketball.
North Korea had planned to send its delegation to Hangzhou following the end of IOC’s sanction on North Korea prohibiting the country from participating in international sporting events. The IOC had imposed the ban following the North’s refusal to participate in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021.
However, flying the North Korean flag at the Asian Games will be banned in Hangzhou due to WADA’s sanctions that were imposed in Oct 2021 and are still effective.
The Olympic Council of Asia(OCA) which oversees the Asian Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee are both obligated to adhere to WADA regulations. If the North Korean flag is allowed to be flown, they could both be sanctioned by WADA.
WADA has notified North Korea’s National Anti Doping Organization(NADO) that until they regain the ‘Compliant State’ status, the flag of a sanctioned state can not be flown at any regional, continental or World championships organized by major organizatios. This sanction applies to all situations where the organizer of the event officially displays the flag in any place, area, or stadium where the event is being held.
However, despite media reports of North Korean flags being flown at stadiums, athletes village, volunteer center ahead of the opening ceremony on the 23rd. The organizing committee is not taking any action.
The North Koreans attempted to fly their flag at the ITF World Championships held in Kazakhstan in August. At the time, the international sports community warned Kazakhstan, the hosting country, of the consequences such as being barred from hosting further international sporting events.
Amid warnings from the WADA and press reports, the organizing committee of the ITF event in Kazakhstan reversed its decision to allow the North Korean flag to be flown.
If the North Korean flag is flown at the Hangzhou Asian Games, the biggest sporting event in Asia, sanctions against OCA and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee for violating WADA rules will be unavoidable.
There are concerns that if no action is taken, not only will WADA lose its authority but the global sports order could collapse.
