- North Korea cancelled the 2026 Pyongyang International Marathon without explanation
- The event was fully booked and cancellation was announced to Koryo Tours
- Speculation links cancellation to Iran War and tightened internal control
North Korea has abruptly cancelled the 2026 Pyongyang International Marathon, originally scheduled for April 5, without providing any explanation, the BBC reported. The decision of the event's cancellation, which was reportedly all sold out, was communicated by the DPR Korea Athletics Association to Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based tour agency that specialises in North Korea travel.
The cancellation sparked online speculations that the cancellation is somehow linked to the Iran War, with North Korea attempting to tighten internal control amid ongoing escalations. But a letter, sent to the agency by the North Korean sports agency, mentioned that the decision was made "due to some reasons".
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"We sincerely apologise for the disappointment this announcement may cause. We appreciate the interest shown by runners from around the world in the Pyongyang International Marathon and thank all those who had planned to participate in the 2026 event," it said in a statement.
The marathon, inaugurated in 1981 to commemorate Kim Il-sung's birthday, was last held in 2025 after a five-year suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was a significant foreign currency earner for North Korea. Koryo Tours stated that the decision was made at a high level above the event organisers and is final
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What's the reason behind the cancellation?
"Sadly, the way things work there is that real information can be elusive and often never really available, so we have to accept that we will probably never know what the true reason or reasons may be," Simon Cockerell, who is the general manager of the agency, told The Independent.
While reacting to rescheduling, he added that "there is only one marathon in the DPRK, so when it is cancelled, there are no alternatives."
"The participants were being invited to the country to take part in the race and have a trip alongside that, rather than to take a tour and also run (as tourism remains suspended) so there is no trip to North Korea for them if the marathon is not happening, which it is not."
