The White House allowed the United States not to participate in the Olympics in Pyeongchang

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that the US authorities have not made a "formal decision" about the participation of the American team in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

“The US is looking forward to participating in the Games in South Korea. Protecting the Americans is a top priority and we are working with the Koreans and other partners to secure these facilities," she tweeted later.

Earlier that the US team may not go to the 2018 Olympics, said the representative of this country in the UN Nikki Haley. In an interview with Fox News, she said American involvement is "an open question" due to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

After that, representatives of the US Olympic Committee said that there were no discussions of a possible non-participation of the United States, and the organization plans to send Olympic and Paralympic teams to South Korea next year.

• The XXIII Winter Olympic Games will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea from February 9 to 25, 2018. The Russian national team was not allowed to compete due to doping violations. The International Olympic Committee allowed individual "clean" athletes from Russia to take part in the Games under a neutral flag.
• In 2017, tensions on the Korean peninsula intensified against the backdrop of active nuclear and missile tests by the DPRK. In the autumn, the North Korean and US authorities issued death threats against each other; in addition, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un exchanged personal insults.