North Korea’s return to international competition after a five-year absence has seen the country win three gold medals in a single day to move into the middle of the medal standings. North Korea collected three medals in the women’s artistic gymnastics final at the Huanglong Sports Center stadium in Hangzhou, China, on Monday, led by Ahn Chang-ok, who swept the vault and uneven bars, and Kim Sun-hyang’s silver on vault .Earlier, the North won its first gold of the Games in the 10-meter running target team event. With three golds, five silvers and four bronzes, North Korea jumped nine spots in the medal standings, from 19th to 10th as of 7:50 p.m. Ahn Chang-ok and the rest of the shooting team gave a giant salute during the awards ceremony .Ahn averaged a 14.049 on vault, the only one of the eight competitors to score in the 14s.He also scored a 14.266 on the uneven bars, the only score in the 14-point range, to send the artificial flag to the top of the podium in a dominant performance in both events. North Korea unilaterally boycotted the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, saying it wanted to keep the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) out of its country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended North Korea’s NOC status and banned it from international competition until the end of 2022, citing Pyongyang’s violation of the Olympic Charter, which states that all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) must participate in the Games. The IOC lifted the suspension at the start of 2023, marking North Korea’s return to international competition five years after the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. Despite being banned from competing outside the country for five years, North Korea’s internal competition has strengthened the country’s cohesion, and the country’s performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games has been outstanding .If not for a crucial mistake in the men’s 10-meter running target team event, the gold medal would have gone to North Korea, not South Korea. The DPRK stood out in women’s gymnastics, where they were particularly strong on vault. Between the team and the two bronze medals in the all-around (Kim Soo-jeong), the DPRK took home five of the total medals in gymnastics. North Korea won 12 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze medals at the 토토사이트 Asian Games five years ago.