Anti-doping officials were recently allowed into North Korea to test DPRK weightlifters, likely becoming the first foreigners to enter the country since 2020 outside a narrow band of state-approved envoys from Russia and China. 

The news follows a record-breaking performance from North Korean athletes at the Asian Championships, which ended at the weekend in Uzbekistan. Every DPRK weightlifter sent to compete — four men and seven women —  won gold, an unprecedented run of success at an international competition. 

The International Testing Agency (ITA) “has been able to successfully conduct out-of-competition testing of North Korean athletes for various sports