Olympic organisers have issued an apology after the South Korean team were mistakenly introduced as North Korea during the opening ceremony in Paris.
This summer’s Games officially got underway with a unique opening ceremony on Friday evening, which took place outside of the main athletics stadium for the first time in Olympic history.
It’s fair to say the four-hour-long party, much of which took place in the pouring rain, divided spectators across social media, with Team GB legend Rebecca Adlington branding the procession along the River Seine ‘disjointed in parts’.
But undoubtedly the most embarrassing blunder of the night came as the boat carrying the South Korean competitors passed onlookers, only for the athletes on board to be introduced as as the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ – the official name of North Korea.
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The North Korean delegation were correctly announced when they made their way towards the spectacle’s crescendo at the Trocadero, set against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.
‘We express regret that the country was introduced as North Korea at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games when the athletes of the Republic of Korea were entering,’ a statement from the South Korean team said.
South Korea’s vice minister for sports and culture subsequently requested a meeting with International Olympic Committee while calling for assurances that similar errors would no longer be made.
‘We apologise wholeheartedly,’ IOC spokesman Mark Adams said during a press briefing Saturday.
‘An operational mistake was made. We can only apologise, in an evening of so many moving parts, that this mistake was made.’
A message was also shared on the IOC’s official Korean-language account apologising for the shocking mix-up.
‘We’d like to deeply apologise over the mistake that occurred in the introduction of the South Korean delegation during the opening ceremony,’ the tweet read.
Elsewhere at the chaotic opening ceremony, the Olympic flag was raised upside down while the Olympic anthem was performed by choristers from the Radio France Choir.
Meanwhile, sporting legends Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Carl Lewis struggled to maintain their balance as they helped carry the Olympic torch down the river in choppy waters.
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