North Korea’s athletes were all smiles as fireworks lit up the Paris night sky at the Olympic closing ceremony, waving the red-starred national flag while celebrating another Games where the impoverished and isolated country punched well above its weight.

The 14-member contingent did not win any gold medals at the DPRK’s first Summer Olympics since Rio, but the country’s six-medal haul still represented a partial success after four years away from international competition during the pandemic.