A minor diplomatic hiccup. South Korea protested on Saturday, July 27, after a gaffe at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, during which its athletes were wrongly introduced as North Koreans. As the South Korean delegation arrived by boat on the Seine as the 48th participating nation, the presenters introduced it as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in French, then “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in English, using in both languages the official name of North Korea, a country with which Seoul is still at war.
South Korea’s sports ministry “regrets the announcement made at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, during which the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team,” it said in a statement. Jang Mi-ran, vice sports minister and 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has requested a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to discuss the matter.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had contacted the French embassy in Seoul, which expressed regret for what it called an “incomprehensible mistake.” In addition, the South Korean National Olympic Committee plans to meet with the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee and the IOC to express its protests, request measures to prevent a recurrence and send an official letter of protest on behalf of its head of delegation, the sports ministry said.
The IOC’s apologies
“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred during the introduction of the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC wrote on the social network X in Korean. During the ceremony, North Korea was correctly introduced with its official name.
South Korea is still technically at war with the North, after a 1950-53 conflict that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Relations between the two neighboring countries are at their lowest in years, as Pyongyang has moved to strengthen military ties with Russia and has been sending thousands of balloons loaded with garbage toward the South for months.
In response, Seoul’s military has been blasting K-pop and anti-Kim Jong-un messages over loudspeakers across the border and has recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.