North Korea makes Olympic return in Paris, but without medal-winning weightlifters

North Korea will return to the Paris Olympics with 14 athletes in six sports after skipping the 2020 Tokyo Games. The reclusive country has won the majority of its 55 medals in weightlifting, but failed to qualify for the competition this year.

North Korean weightlifters pose for a photo after the women's 76 kilograms at the Hangzhou Xiaoshan Sports Centre in China on Oct. 5, 2023. [YONHAP]

North Korea will return to the Summer Olympics in Paris this year after skipping the 2020 Tokyo Games due to Covid-19.

As of Tuesday, 14 North Korean athletes have secured tickets to the French capital across six sports: Athletics, boxing, diving, gymnastics, table tennis and wrestling.

It is unclear whether the 14 athletes will be the reclusive country’s sole representatives at the Games, as the International Olympic Committee could still give out additional spots in other sports before the Olympics begin.

The last time North Korea competed at the Olympics was in 2016, when the country won seven medals: Two gold, three silver and two bronze.

While North Korea has not exactly earned a spot in the pantheon of Olympic greats, the country has competed at the tournament since 1972, apart from 1984 — when it joined the Soviet-led boycott of the Games — 1988 — when it opted not to compete in Seoul — and 2020.

With the Paris Olympics kicking off next month, here's a look at how North Korea has done at past Olympics and which sports its medals have come from.

Fifty-five medals across eight sports

Across the 10 Olympics North Korea has participated in, the country has won 55 medals in eight sports.

North Korea won five medals in its Olympic debut in 1972, and has continued to top the podium a handful of times at each subsequent Games. Nine medals at Barcelona 1992 remains the country's best finish.

North Korean athletes do best in sports where brute force plays a big role. Weightlifting is the country's best sport by a significant margin, with 18 medals coming from the sport. Wrestling follows with 10, followed by boxing and judo with eight medals apiece.

At the 2012 Games, the country won three gold and two bronze medals in weightlifting alone, in addition to one gold medal in judo and one bronze in wrestling.

North Korea did not medal in wrestling in 2016, but still they won four of their seven medals in weightlifting with one gold and three silver.

North Korean weightlifter Rim Jong-sim competes during the women's 75 kilogram final at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 12, 2016. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

But despite all that success, North Korea is not eligible to compete in weightlifting at this year’s Olympics, having failed to participate in the IWF Weightlifting Grand Prix last year, which serves as a qualifying event.

They still have five wrestlers competing at the Games, accounting for the biggest group in their entire Olympic athlete pool as of Tuesday.

South vs. North

Any clash between South and North Korea at an international tournament makes headlines due to the 1945 division of the two countries and the 1950 Korean War, which is technically still ongoing.

Olympic medal-count wise, the two are not rivals. South Korea beats the North by a huge margin, with 367 to 55.

The Olympics have still seen the two countries go head-to-head with medals on the line, like the women’s volleyball bronze medal contest at the 1972 Olympics where the North thrashed the South 3-0 to take their first volleyball medal in their first Games.

North Korea also surpassed South Korea to top the podium in 1992, when wrestler Kim Il beat Kim Jong-shin in the men’s freestyle 48 kilograms. Kim Il went on to win a second straight gold at the following Olympics, where South Korea failed to medal in the discipline.

South vs. North in Paris

The two countries will not clash often at the upcoming Paris Olympics due to North Korea’s relatively small team.

South Korea, who have 121 competitors across 21 sports, could still face the long-time competitors in wrestling or table tennis.

The biggest clashes between the two countries are always in the team sports, although this year that won't be the case as North Korea has failed to qualify a single team and South Korea only has women's handball.

Members of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan support North Korea during a Paris Olympic qualifer against Japan at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on Feb. 28. [YONHAP]

The Paris Olympics will run from July 26 through Aug. 11 with around 10,500 athletes set to compete across 32 sports.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]