Paris Olympics 2024: IOC apologises to South Korea after opening ceremony gaffe

The Olympic Games organisers, the International Olympic Committee, on Saturday said they “deeply apologise” for introducing South Korea’s athletes as North Korean at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

As the boat carrying South Korean athletes passed on the Seine on Friday evening with athletes waving their nation’s flag, they were announced in both French and English as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However, the subtitle that ran across the bottom of the television broadcast showed the correct title.

It is important to note that South Korea is officially known as the Republic of Korea, while North Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the Korean team during the opening ceremony broadcast,” the IOC said in a post on X in Korean.

"It was clearly deeply regrettable and we apologise wholeheartedly," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in a press conference.

Following the incident, the South Korean Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism said it would file “a strong government-level complaint” with the French government.

Meanwhile, South Korea's vice minister for sports and culture, Jang Mi-ran, who was in Paris, said IOC President Thomas Bach will speak with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to convey an apology.

The South Korean delegation includes 143 athletes competing in 21 events. North Korea, which is returning to the Games for the first time since Rio 2016, has sent 16 athletes.

In 2012, the London Olympic Games organisers apologised for a similar incident when South Korea’s flag appeared alongside North Korea’s women’s football team on stadium screens in Glasgow as players warmed up before their opening match.

The two Koreas have seen tensions rise over the North's weapons programmes and are sensitive over their political integrity, especially Pyongyang, which openly shows irritation when it is not referred to by its official name.