North Korea, the escalationfileThe South Korean delegation was introduced on Friday July 26 during the festivities as being the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”… the official name of North Korea.
Sign up to receive free our Libélympique newsletter every morning during the Games.
The day after an extraordinary and successful opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games despite the rain, South Korea is playing the party pooper this Saturday, July 27. But it has its reasons. A diplomatic blunder interfered with the festivities on Friday evening. Its athletes were wrongly presented as North Koreans, forcing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to apologize.
President Yoon Suk-yeol and IOC chief Thomas Bach spoke by phone on Saturday. The president warned that such mistakes should not be repeated. He also expressed his hopes for a successful Olympics, his office said.
As the South Korean delegation arrived by boat on the Seine as the 48th participating nation, presenters introduced it as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in French and then “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in English, using in both languages the official name of North Korea, a country with which Seoul is still at war.
The South Korean Sports Ministry “regrets the announcement made at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, during which the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team,” it said in a statement. It also asked the Foreign Ministry to “firmly protest to the French side” over the matter. Jang Mi-ran, vice sports minister and 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, even asked to meet with IOC President Thomas Bach to discuss the matter.
The South Korean National Olympic Committee also plans to meet with the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee and the IOC to express its protests, request measures to prevent this from happening again and send an official letter of protest on behalf of its head of delegation, the sports ministry said.
Diplomatic relations at their lowest
“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred during the introduction of the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC responded on the social network X in Korean. During the ceremony, North Korea was correctly introduced with its official name.
Relations between the two border countries are at their lowest in years, as Pyongyang has moved to strengthen its military ties with Russia and has been sending thousands of balloons loaded with garbage toward the South for several months.
In response, Seoul’s military has been blasting K-pop and anti-Kim Jong Un regime messages over loudspeakers across the border and has recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea is still technically at war with the North, after a conflict between 1950 and 1953 that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Updated at 2:40 p.m. with the telephone conversation between Thomas Bach and the South Korean president.
