International Olympic Committee Apologise For…

International Olympic Committee Apologise For Introducing South Korean Athletes As North Korean

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologised to South Korea and its athletes after they introduced them as North Koreans during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 opening ceremony.

During the lavish opening ceremony for this year’s Olympic Games, athletes from the participating countries sailed down the Seine, waving their flags with pride and sporting their iconic fits.

However, when South Korea rolled around, the country’s athletes were announced in both French and English as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, which is used by North Korea.

The title for South Korea is the Republic of Korea, which was correctly displayed on their boat.

*Flagbearers of Team Republic of Korea, are seen waving their flag along the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. (Image source: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)*

Per BBC News, the South Korean sports ministry planned to lodge a “strong complaint with France on a government level” due to the mistake.

Following the huge blunder, the IOC shared an apology to its Korean language X (formerly Twitter) account, expressing they “deeply apologise” for the big error.

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the Korean athletes during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC Media shared on its Korean language X account.

개회식 중계 중 대한민국 선수단 소개 시 발생한 실수에 대해 깊이 사과드립니다.
— 올림픽 (@Olympic) July 26, 2024

In a press conference, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams labelled the gaffe as “clearly deeply regrettable”.

“We apologise wholeheartedly,” Adams stated.

“You may have seen we issued a statement last night… We made it very clear from the IOC an operational mistake was made. We can only apologise in an evening of some many moving parts that a mistake was made.

“We apologise to the people from the Republic of Korea for that error.”

An error occurred in our broadcast when introducing the team of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Republic of Korea during the Opening Ceremony, we apologise sincerely. pic.twitter.com/LfUPLrtaYv
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) July 27, 2024

Following its social media apology, the IOC released a statement revealing IOC President Thomas Bach spoke with Yoon Suk-yeol, the President of South Korea, where the committee apologised for the audio broadcast mistake.

“The problem was identified as a human error, for which the IOC is deeply sorry,” the statement reads.

“The IOC President took the opportunity to congratulate the President of the Republic of Korea on the country’s first medal at these Games, which was a silver medal won by the 10m air rifle mixed team.”

This wasn’t the only mistake that was made during the opening ceremony.

During the massive event, the internet lit up after the official Olympic Flag was raised upside down. The blunder was quickly screenshotted and shared across social media, with punters making fun of the gaffe.