IOC apologizes for 'mistake' during Olympics opening ceremony

The International Olympic Committee apologized to President Yoon Suk Yeol, the government, and the country's athletes for the error made during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics Friday afternoon local time, at which the South Korean delegation was mistakenly identified as representing North Korea, with which South Korea is technically still at war.

According to the Sports Ministry on Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach apologized for the "mistake in the audio broadcast of the opening ceremony," in an official letter sent to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon; Lee Kee-heung, president of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee; and Jeong Gang-sun, chief of mission of the Korean delegation, received early Sunday morning Seoul time.

The letter was sent hours after the IOC chief apologized over a phone call to the South Korean president for what he described as an "inexcusable incident," Saturday evening Seoul time.

"The IOC would like to reiterate its sincerest and deepest apologies for the extremely regrettable mistake that was made by the television commentators at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics Games Paris 2024 in the introduction of your National Olympic Committees team representing the Republic of Korea," read the letter revealed by the Sports Ministry.

The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea. But announcers of Friday's opening ceremony broadcast in English and French identified the team of South Korea, which was being carried on a boat along the Seine River, as that of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is the official name of North Korea.

As a result, North Korea's official name was broadcast twice throughout the ceremony.

During their phone conversation on Saturday evening, Yoon called for the IOC's "apology over the incident via both (traditional forms of) media and social media" and urged it not to repeat such incidents, spokesperson Jeong Hey-jeon said in a written statement to the press.

Bach responded that it would "take all available measures" to address Yoon's concerns, according to Yoon's office. Before the phone call between Yoon and Bach, South Korea's Sports Ministry and Foreign Ministry had expressed regret over the incident.

Immediately after the incident, the IOC had issued a statement on the case only via its Korean-language account on social media platform X.

In a separate statement on its website Sunday, the governing body of the worldwide Olympic movements acknowledged that the cause of incident "was identified as a human error, for which the IOC is deeply sorry."

Bach added in his letter that the IOC "is working with all its partners to make sure that such incident will not be repeated during the Olympic Games." The IOC is a non-profit organization that holds the supreme authority of the Olympics.

There are 143 South Korean athletes taking part in the Paris Olympics.