According to North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim said the opening of the Games at the Beijing National Stadium on Friday (February 4) was a success, despite COVID-19 playing a factor in the logistics of the event.

"The successful opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics despite the worldwide health crisis and unprecedented severe circumstances is another great victory won by socialist China," said Kim.

"The DPRK-China relations have been cemented into invincible strategic relations that can never be broken by anything in the struggle for defending and advancing the common cause, and the two parties and the peoples of the two countries have consolidated the unity and cooperation in all fields including politics, economy, culture and sports."

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's full title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea were banned from the Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended its National Olympic Committee in September, with the measures imposed until the end of 2022.

IOC President Thomas Bach said the Executive Board "reserves the right to reconsider the duration of the suspension at its discretion".

Bach claimed the nation had breached the Olympic Charter by "failing to fulfil their obligation" to send athletes to the re-arranged Olympic Games in Tokyo last year.

The IOC offered to welcome North Korean athletes under a neutral banner for Beijing 2022, but no athletes were put forward to do so. 

North Korea turned down the invitation because they claimed they were fearful of contracting COVID-19 if they travelled to China. 

The nation then blamed its ban on "hostile forces" and criticised the United States-led diplomatic boycott of the Games.