IOC apologizes for introducing S. Korean athletes as N. Korean

The 2024 Paris Olympics, which kicked off on Friday (local time), is being criticized for its lack of preparedness and blunder reporting South Korean athletes as North Korean. In the official live broadcast of the opening ceremony, the South Korean team was incorrectly introduced as the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.’ On the Olympic Committee’s official social media account, the English name of South Korea’s first gold medalist, Oh Sang-wook (age 28, fencing), was incorrectly written as ‘Oh Sang-gu.’

In the opening ceremony broadcast, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) incorrectly introduced the nationality of South Korean delegates, who entered as the 48th country team, as ‘North Korea’ in both English and French. The female broadcaster referred to the South Korean team wearing raincoats and waving the Korean national flag as “Republique populaire democratique de Core.” Later, she made the same mistake again in English (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).”

As criticism intensified, IOC President Thomas Bach called President Yoon Seok Yeol on July 27 and apologized. The President’s Office said that the Chairman apologized to President Yoon by offering “a sincere and deep apology for the inexcusable incident and do our best to prevent such mistakes.” On the very same day, however, South Korean fencing medalist Oh Sang-wook's English name was incorrectly written as 'Oh Sang-gu.' The IOC is being criticized again for correcting the misspelled name without any apology or explanation.


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