Paris Olympics: Organizers Issue Apology for Misidentifying South Korean Team as North Korean

Organizers of the Olympic Games have issued a heartfelt apology for mistakenly introducing South Korea's athletes as North Korea during the Paris opening ceremony. While South Korean athletes were parading with their national flag on a boat along the Seine River on Friday evening, they were incorrectly announced in both French and English as representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The correct designation for South Korea is the Republic of Korea.

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Organisers Apologise for mistakenly introducing South Korea's athletes as North Korea

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the Korean team during the opening ceremony broadcast,” the International Olympic Committee said in a post on X in Korean.

The South Korean Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism Vice Minister Jang Mi Ran requested a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach over the incident, the ministry said in a statement Saturday. It said the ministry also asked South Korea’s Foreign Ministry to file “a strong government-level complaint” with the French government.

The statement said South Korea’s Olympic committee separately asked the organizers of the Paris Games to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.

The Korean peninsula has been bitterly divided into South Korea and North Korea since the end of World War II in 1945. The blue sign on the boat carrying the South Korean athletes did show the correct name.

(With inputs from AP)