Everything you need to know about South Korea wrongly introduced as North Korea at Olympics controversy

The Olympic contingent from South Korea was mistakenly addressed as North Korea by the announcer during the floating parade event at the Paris Olympics 2024. Following this gaffe, the country’s Vice Minister for Sports and Culture, Jang Mi-ran conveyed the country's dismay to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Saturday.

During the opening ceremony at the Seine River, the announcer misidentified South Korea as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea” in English and "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French—the official name of North Korea. Moments later, when the North Korean delegation sailed by, the announcer took the same official name. Notably, both countries have been in some form of conflict since 1950-53.

Following the error, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shared a message "express[ing] regret" to the IOC:

"We express regret that the country was introduced as North Korea at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games when the athletes of the Republic of Korea were entering," the ministry said.

Following this, the IOC offered a “deep apology” to the country on its Korean-language X (formerly known as Twitter) account.

It read,

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony.”

Moreover, the South Korean Ministry said that Sports Minister Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has asked for a meeting with Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, to discuss the issue. Bach has meanwhile discussed the matter with President Yoon Suk-yeol and apologized. The latter conveyed his message that such mistakes should not be repeated and conveyed his wishes for a successful event, according to an official statement.

About 143 South Korean athletes will be competing across 21 events at the Paris Olympics 2024.

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South Korean archer breaks world record on Day 1 of Paris Olympics 2024

Archer Lim Si-hyeon at the Olympic Games Paris 2024[Getty]

21-year-old archer Lim Si-hyeon smashed the world record on day 1 of the Paris Olympics in the rankings round of the women's individual archery event on Thursday. The athlete broke the record set by Kang Chaeyoung who had scored 692 points at the 2019 Archery World Cup.

Si-hyeon improved on her compatriot’s score by lodging an impressive 694 points, with 49 tens and 21 bulls-eyes. It has got her a well-deserved place in the quarterfinals.

The young archer currently stands as world no. 2 behind America’s Casey Kaughold.