He International Olympic Committee (IOC) has sent letter to South Korean government apologizing for mistake in Paris 2024 opening ceremony wherein The presenters referred to their country by the name used for North Korea.
The letter, sent to the South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Yu In-chon, to the head of the South Korean delegation to Paris 2024, Jeong Gang-sun, and to the president of the South Korean Olympic Committee, Lee Kee-heung, and issued today, Saturday, apologize for the error.
“The IOC wishes to reiterate its sincere and deepest apologies for the regrettable mistakes made by the television commentators during the opening ceremony. Please be assured that the IOC is working with all its partners to ensure that the an incident like this cannot be repeated during the Olympic Games”, indicates the letter.
The text also mentions the call made by IOC president Thomas Bach the previous day to South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, to convey his “sincere apologies” for the incident.
During Friday’s inauguration, when it was time to introduce the boatmen who sailed down the Seine carrying the South Korean delegation, The Asian nation’s team was announced in French and English as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, the official designation of North Korea and not South Korea, whose name is “Republic of Korea”.
The subtitling of the broadcast seen on television and shown on giant screens along the Seine correctly showed “Republic of Korea” in English.
North Korea, which was introduced later, was correctly identified by a public address system and on signs.
This is not the first time that there has been this kind of incident when it comes to the presentation of these two countries at the Olympic Games, which are still technically at war, since the conflict that faced them between 1950 and 1953 ended in fire instead of a peace treaty
In London 2012, the North Korean women’s football team walked off the pitch in protest after the team was incorrectly shown on the stadium’s video scoreboard with a South Korean flag.
Source: La Verdad
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