‘Absurd Gaffe’: Olympics Apologizes for Confusing North Korea and South Korea
Anjum Naveed/AP
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is overseeing the ongoing 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, apologized this weekend to the nation of South Korea for incorrectly identifying its delegation at the Opening Ceremonies as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (DPRK).
DPRK is the formal name for communist North Korea, which South Korea – formally, the Republic of Korea (ROK) – has been at war with for 74 years. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described his nation as “surprised and dismayed” by being confused for its top geopolitical enemy, particularly as a country with a rich Olympic history, having hosted both Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
The mistake, which the IOC described as a “human error,” occurred during the parade of athletes at the Opening Ceremonies on Friday. The Paris Olympics featured an unprecedented display in which the delegations, rather than parading in a stadium, rode into the city on boats in the Seine. When the boat carrying the South Korean athletes arrived, Olympics organizers introduced them in both French and English as the DPRK. The much smaller North Korean delegation was also introduced as the “Democratic People’s Republic.”
The IOC published a statement on its website on Saturday apologizing for the error in addressing the South Korean delegation, but not noting what team the South Koreans were mistakenly identified as. The statement noted that IOC President Thomas Bach personally called President Yoon to apologize.
“In this telephone call, the IOC President apologised sincerely for the mistake in the audio broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 last night, in which the team of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Korea (KSOC) was wrongly identified,” the IOC said. “The problem was identified as a human error, for which the IOC is deeply sorry.”
The South Korean news service Yonhap reported that Bach’s conversation with Yoon lasted about ten minutes. Yoon, according to the presidential office, sternly issued his condemnation of the mistake and demanded a public apology in addition to the private call.
“As people of the country that has hosted the Summer and the Winter Olympic Games, along with the FIFA World Cup, South Koreans were quite surprised and dismayed with this incident,” Yoon reportedly said.
“I’d like to ask you to apologize for this incident through media and social media, and to ensure against a recurrence of similar incidents,” Yoon continued. “I hope that the rest of the Olympic Games will proceed successfully and serve as the true festival for the people around the world.”
The president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), Lee Kee-heung, noted on Saturday that the insult was not the first time the IOC had offended South Korean sensibilities.
“This absurd gaffe occurred because those in charge of operations failed to be attentive. While there have been times that the South Korean flag was raised upside down, being officially mistaken for North Korea was something that I never thought would happen,” Lee said.
South Korean sports fans levied other grievances against the IOC in the aftermath of the Opening Ceremonies disaster, such as the use of a photo on the official Olympics Instagram account of the South Korean team on the Seine that showed the South Korean flag blurred out.
Olympics organizers outraged Koreans again by misspelling the name of gold medalist fencer Oh Sang-uk as “Oh Sang-ku” on their official Instagram page. The mistake has been corrected.
As of Monday afternoon Paris time, the South Korean delegation is tied for sixth place for most medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, earning seven so far. Korean athletes have won four gold medals – in archery, fencing, and shooting – two silver medals, and one bronze.
The outrage in South Korea has largely been eclipsed by global disgust rising against Olympics organizers for the featuring of sexualized content, drag queens, and imagery that Christians interpreted as a mockery of the Last Supper on Friday. The IOC again apologized following the Opening Ceremonies to all offended, insisting the “Last Supper” was intended to depict a pagan festival celebrating the Greek god of wine, Dionysus, and not Christian imagery.
“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” artistic director Thomas Jolly claimed. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”
Paris has also been hit by several “sabotage” attacks to its high-speed train infrastructure that have jeopardized transportation for the thousands of visitors in the French capital for the Olympic Games. Separately, a “technical anomaly” caused a massive citywide blackout in Paris on Saturday night, leaving only the iconic Christian monument the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre alight.
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