South Korea severed ties with the United States. It announced that it would not join the American-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, claiming a need for China's assistance in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea stated Monday during a visit to Australia that his government was "not contemplating" a boycott, and the country has not done so. "I have not received any invitations to participate from any countries, including the United States," he stated.

The Biden administration's diplomatic embargo, announced last week, has strained relations between the US and several of its allies, with Beijing warning that countries participating would face sanctions "pay a penalty for their erroneous actions." Nonetheless, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have joined forces to criticize China's alleged human rights violations.

France, which will host the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, would not join, and President Emmanuel Macron recently told the BBC that any such action would be just symbolic. Japan, whose lone military alliance is the United States and whose largest commercial partner is China, has been noncommittal. Tokyo is considering sending a lower-level delegation rather than dispatching Cabinet ministers.

China is critical on the Korean Peninsula, serving as Seoul's most significant economic partner and Pyongyang's primary source of revenue. Moon has made reconciliation with North Korea a central policy objective. If he achieves it before his term in office expires next year, he will almost certainly require Beijing's assistance.

"Clearly, our relations with China are fraught with conflict and competition," Moon told reporters in Canberra following his summit with Prime Minister Scott Morrison. However, China's "constructive efforts" are necessary for North Korea's denuclearization and the Korean Peninsula's "peace and stability," Moon said during a joint news conference.

Moon utilized his country's hosting of the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018 to rekindle diplomatic relations with North Korea. Local media reports indicate he may be seeking to use the Beijing Games to forward his aspirations for a declaration ending the 1950-1953 Korean War. On the other hand, North Korea was forbidden from participation by the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board following Pyongyang's withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year, citing COVID concerns.

For nearly two years, negotiations to dismantle Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons have been frozen, with Pyongyang demonstrating little interest in returning to the negotiating table. North Korea, for its part, has remained largely mute on the Olympics, last addressing them in July in a piece that focused only on a long-running territorial dispute with Japan and made no mention of North Korea's participation in any upcoming games.