South Korea has protested after a blunder during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.
When the boat with South Korean athletes arrived on Friday night, the presenters announced them, in both French and English, as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,that is the official name of North Korea.
The International Olympic Committee has already apologized for the error.
“We deeply apologize for the error made during the presentation of the South Korean team during the opening ceremony,” the IOC responded.
The South Korean Minister of Sports says in a press release that he regrets the erroneous announcement.
He has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ‘register strong protests with France’.
The Vice Minister of Sports, who was Olympic weightlifting champion in 2008, wants to meet with IOC President Thomas Bach.
South Korea officially calls itself the “Republic of Korea,” and that name was also visible on the boat carrying the South Korean athletes. North Korea, however, was announced during the ceremony.
Communist North Korea and pro-Western South Korea fought a war between 1950 and 1953 and still have a bad relationship with each other.
