South Korean social media users have accused Paris Olympics organisers of discrimination over what they called a “personal grudge” against the country, following repeated gaffes just days before the Games opened.
At Saturday’s opening ceremony, as the South Korean delegation sailed down the Seine, the on-board announcer referred to the athletes as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” which is the official name of North Korea.
The speaker repeated the same introduction for the North Korean team.
Mark Adams, spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, told a news conference that the error was “clearly and deeply regrettable.”
“We can only apologize, on a night with so many moving parts, for this mistake that was made,” he said.
Committee chairman Thomas Bach spoke to South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol about the incident and sincerely apologized for the mistake, which was caused by human error, the committee said in a statement Sunday.
Another incident during the opening ceremony also struck a chord, as South Korean netizens were unhappy with the choice of photo depicting the country’s delegation on the official Olympics Instagram page.
They said the organisers deliberately chose a photo that did not properly show the country’s flag, while in the case of other delegations it was clearly visible.
The image chosen for the South Korean team focused on spectators on a bridge and showed the backs of their athletes, with the flags out of focus.
“It seems like a country that discriminates based on race. I’m sure they have clear and focused photos,” one user commented in Korean.
“Why are you publishing this? Or are there many photographers in Paris who don’t know how to focus properly?”
Organizers again drew the ire of netizens on Sunday after misspelling the name of South Korea’s first gold medalist.
The Olympics’ official Instagram account posted a photo congratulating fencer Oh Sang-uk on his gold medal in the men’s individual sabre, but wrote his name as Oh Sang-ku in the English and French captions.
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South Korean athletes were wrongly represented as North Koreans at the Paris Olympics
South Korean athletes were wrongly represented as North Koreans at the Paris Olympics
Although the bug has since been fixed, it still angered South Korean netizens who were tired of the continuous errors.
“Repeated mistakes like this make one wonder if France has a personal grudge against South Korea at the moment,” one user commented on the post.
“This is shameful, disrespectful and disappointing.”
“It’s OH SANG-UK, my dear, not OH Sang-ku. But wow, you’re right about him being South Korean,” wrote another mockingly.
