During the parade of athletes at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, South Korea caused outrage when it mistakenly introduced North Korea’s official name as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The South Korean Ministry of Sports issued a statement saying it regretted the incident and requested a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on the matter.
REQUESTED THAT SIMILAR CASES SHOULD NOT REPEAT
“We demand a response from the IOC regarding the mistake made. We also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a strong complaint with France at the government level. The Korean Sports and Olympic Committee asked the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee to prevent similar cases from happening again,” the South Korean Sports Ministry said in a statement.
South Korea’s Chef de Mission for the Paris Olympics, Jeong Gang-sun, will also convey his country’s protest to the IOC.
NORTH KOREA PROPERLY INTRODUCED
North Korea, which participated in the parade as the 153rd country according to the French alphabetical order, was introduced correctly.
”WE APOLOGIZE”
“We would like to express our deepest apology for the mistake that occurred in introducing the South Korean delegation during the opening ceremony,” the IOC’s official Korean-language X account said in a post.
However, the IOC has not yet issued an apology on its English social media account.