The managers of the Paris Olympics have officially apologized for introducing the South Korean team as North Korea during the opening ceremony. The mistake happened in both the English and French shows on July 26.
It caused a huge uproar in the public. “During this phone call, the IOC President told the South Korean leader that he was truly sorry for the mistake,” the IOC head said after the call. The host said sorry because they thought the South Korean team was from the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” instead of the “Republic of Korea.”
This mistake reminds me of the London Olympics in 2012, when the South Korean flag was shown during a North Korean women’s football game. The IOC said it was very sorry for the latest mistake at the opening ceremony and promised to look into what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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After the mistake at the opening event of the Paris Olympics, the IOC feels very bad about it.
Last week, the Associated Press (AP) shared an Instagram video of Mark Adams, a spokesman for the IOC, at a press meeting on July 27, 2024. He talked about how the names got mixed up at the opening ceremony.
At the opening event, South Korean athletes rode a boat down the Seine while waving their flag with pride. The speakers called them the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in English and French, which is the correct name for North Korea but not South Korea. South Korea is what the phrase “Republic of Korea” really means. Adams said that the event was “clearly deeply regrettable” and that he was disappointed.
Adams added, “A mistake was made in the way things were done.” There were so many things going on that night that we can only say sorry that this mistake was made. His tone showed that he was angry and sorry about the mistake. After that, the IOC wrote on X in Korean, “We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the Korean team during the opening ceremony broadcast.”
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism also said they would send the French government “a strong government-level complaint.” To talk about it, IOC president Thomas Bach wants to meet with Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea. They are going to talk about what happened and try to find an answer.
The South Korean Olympic Committee has talked to the people in charge of the Paris Olympics. They want to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again. The IOC head went on to say, “The problem was found to be a mistake made by a person, for which the IOC is very sorry.”
Things are worse because of how tense things are between North and South Korea. Each country has not been friendly with another since the end of World War II. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been slowly rising over the past few weeks. Pyongyang has sent South Korea a huge number of trash-filled balloons.
Some of them have even made it to the Seoul presidential complex. About 143 South Korean athletes will participate in 21 events at the Olympics this year, while only 16 North Korean athletes were sent. South Korea is facing more and more problems on and off the field as the Paris Olympics start.
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The South Korean team is still in trouble.
South Korean swimmers on the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, such as Kim Woomin and Hwang Sunwoo, had to move into a hotel close to the La Defense Arena not long ago. They chose to fight here in the Olympics after having a terrible time on the buses that took them from the village. The town is 12 km away from the arena, which is a long way.
The forty-minute trip takes one and a half hours because of heavy traffic and tight security. In order to stop terrorist strikes, the windows of buses that don’t have air conditioning are also taped up. The buses now feel like a “sauna” because of this, according to Hwang. “It’s cooler outside than inside the bus,” he said.
Most of the time, it takes 40 to 45 minutes to get from the town to the arena. But on Thursday, it took us more than 1,5 hours. They probably taped up the windows because they are afraid of terrorist strikes. But something needs to be done. The head of the KSF, Chong Chang-hoon, said, “We just want to make sure they’ll be a little more at ease.” It is very important for players to be in great shape in order to do well.
A lot of players have also said that the French government gave them hard mattresses made from recycled materials. Also, some players have said that the mattresses have “thrown their backs out.” When you add them all up, these comments make you doubt the sincerity of French hospitality. There is still trouble for the South Korean team, which makes many people wonder: will they ever get lucky on the world stage?
