The South Korean delegation of athletes, including flag bearers — high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok (third from right, front) and swimmer Kim Seo-yeong (fourth from right, front) — is seen on a boat sailing on the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Friday. (Yonhap)
The International Olympic Committee has apologized to President Yoon Suk Yeol, the country’s government and athletes for an error during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday afternoon local time, in which the South Korean delegation was mistakenly identified as representing North Korea, with whom South Korea is technically still at war.
According to the Sports Ministry on Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach apologized for the “error in the audio broadcast of the opening ceremony,” in an official letter sent to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon; Lee Kee-heung, president of the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee; and Jeong Gang-sun, chef de mission of the Korean delegation, received early Sunday morning Seoul time.
The letter was sent hours after the IOC chief apologized by phone to South Korea’s president for what he described as an “inexcusable incident” on Saturday night Seoul time.
“The IOC would like to reiterate its sincere and deepest apologies for the extremely regrettable error made by the television commentators at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in introducing the team of its National Olympic Committee representing the Republic of Korea,” reads the letter released by the Ministry of Sports.
The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea, but announcers at Friday’s opening ceremony, broadcast in English and French, identified the South Korean team, traveling by boat on the River Seine, as being from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.
As a result, North Korea’s official name was broadcast twice during the ceremony.
During their phone conversation on Saturday night, Yoon apologized for the IOC incident through (traditional) media and social media and urged it not to repeat such incidents, spokesman Jeong Hey-jeon said in a written statement to reporters.
Bach responded that he would “take all available measures” to address Yoon’s concerns, according to Yoon’s office. Before the phone call between Yoon and Bach, South Korea’s Ministry of Sport and Ministry of Foreign Affairs had expressed regret over the incident.
Immediately after the incident, the IOC issued a statement on the case solely through its Korean-language account on social media platform X.
In a separate statement on its website on Sunday, the governing body of the global Olympic movements acknowledged that the cause of the incident “was identified as human error, for which the IOC is deeply sorry.”
Bach added in his letter that the IOC “is working with all its partners to ensure that an incident like this is not repeated during the Olympic Games.” The IOC is a non-profit organization that holds the ultimate authority over the Olympic Games.
There are 143 South Korean athletes participating in the Paris Olympics.
