The 2024 Paris Olympic Games took a surprising turn when a major blunder occurred: South Korea’s athletes were mistakenly introduced as North Korean. As the South Korean team gracefully sailed down the Seine, proudly displaying their national flag, both French and English announcers erroneously referred to them as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the official name of North Korea.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) swiftly responded, issuing a “deep apology” on their Korean-language X account. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams described the incident as “clearly deeply regrettable,” attributing it to an operational error amidst the complexity of the event.
Read more: Paris Olympics 2024: How Team Japan’s Uniforms are Fighting Digital Voyeurism
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism expressed their “regret” over the incident and declared their intent to file a “strong complaint with France on a government level.” The ministry also revealed that the second vice sports minister, Jang Mi-ran, a former Olympic weightlifting champion, requested a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach to address the matter further.
