IOC makes South Korea remove political banners from Olympic village

South Korea's Olympic delegation has removed banners at the athletes' village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the International Olympic Committee ruled it was provocative.

Tokyo 2020 organisers confrmed Saturday that the IOC had contacted the South Korean delegation and asked them to remove the banners.

The banners, which drew protests from some Japanese far-right groups, had been hung at the balconies of South Korean athletes' rooms and collectively spelled out a message that read: "I still have the support of 50 million Korean people."

The phrase borrowed from the famous words of 16th-century Korean naval admiral Yi Sun-sin who was said to have claimed "I still have 12 battleships left" before a crucial victory against a larger Japanese fleet during the 1592-1598 Japanese invasions of Korea.

In agreeing to take down the banners, the South Koreans said they received a promise from the IOC that the displaying of the Japanese "rising sun" flag will be banned at stadiums and other Olympic venues.

The flag, portraying a red sun with 16 rays extending outward, is resented by many people in South Korea and other parts of Asia who see it as a symbol of Japan's wartime past.