North Korea has slammed the US-led diplomatic boycott of February's Beijing Winter Games, state media reported yesterday, describing it as an "insult" to the Olympic spirit. Washington and some of its allies have announced a diplomatic boycott, citing China's human rights record, in a decision that incensed Beijing. North Korean Olympic and sports bodies criticised the boycott in a letter to their Chinese counterparts, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "The US and its vassal forces are getting ever more undisguised in their moves against China aimed at preventing the successful opening of the Olympics," the letter said, according to KCNA. Their moves are "an insult to the spirit of the international Olympic Charter". China is the main ally and economic benefactor of impoverished North Korea, which is suspended from competing in the Chinese capital for its refusal to take part in Tokyo Games last year because of Covid-19 pandemic.