The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologized for a blunder during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in which South Korean athletes were misrepresented as North Korean.
As the South Korean delegation sailed down the Seine River in the French capital, they were presented with North Korea's official name: "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French ("Democratic People's Republic of Korea").
"We deeply apologize for the error that occurred in the presentation of the South Korean team during the opening ceremony broadcast," the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X profile.
The mistake sparked a backlash in South Korea, a global cultural and technological powerhouse that is technically still at war with the nuclear-armed and impoverished North.
South Korea's sports ministry expressed disappointment at "the announcement during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team."
Second Vice Sports Minister Chang Mi-ran, the 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has requested a meeting with IOC chief Thomas Bach to discuss the matter, AFP reported.
The sports ministry has also asked the foreign ministry to "express a strong protest to the French side" over the matter.
South Korea's National Olympic Committee plans to meet with the Organizing Committee of the Paris Olympics and the IOC to express its protest, request measures to prevent a repeat, and send an official letter of protest on behalf of its head of delegation.
North Korea was correctly represented by the official name of the country.
Relations between the South and the North are at one of their lowest points in years. Pyongyang is strengthening military ties with Russia as it sends thousands of balloons carrying garbage toward Seoul.
In response, Seoul's military blasts K-pop and messages against Kim Jong Un's regime from border loudspeakers, and recently resumed live-fire exercises near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula. | BGNES
