IOC apologises for South Korea mistake during opening ceremony: summary

What we know

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has apologised for mistakenly introducing the South Korean team as North Korea during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
• IOC President Thomas Bach apologised for the opening ceremony mistake in a letter to South Korean officials, including Sports Minister Yu In-chon, on Sunday, July 28.
• Bach had already apologised to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in a phone call Saturday evening, calling the mistake an "inexcusable incident", before following up with a formal letter the next day.
• During the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday, July 26, announcers mistakenly identified South Korea's team as North Korea's, using the official name of the North, "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", instead of South Korea's official name, "Republic of Korea", as the team floated along the Seine River on a boat.
• South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol requested that the IOC issue a public apology through both traditional and social media, and ensure that such a mistake doesn't happen again, according to spokesperson Jeong Hey-jeon's statement following their Saturday evening phone call.
• Bach promised to take all necessary measures to address Yoon's concerns, following earlier expressions of regret from South Korea's Sports and Foreign Ministries.

What they said

“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 sent to South Korea Sports Ministry. Bach, according The Korea Herald 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.”