S. Korea Misnamed as N. Korea at Paris Olympics Opening

At the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, a significant controversy arose when the organizing committee mistakenly introduced 'South Korea' as 'North Korea'.

During the ceremony, South Korea was listed as the 48th country among the 206 participating nations, following the French alphabetical order. However, the issue occurred when the South Korean team was introduced. The announcer referred to South Korea as 'République populaire démocratique de Corée' in French and 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea' in English—both of which are terms used for North Korea. The correct designations should have been 'République de Corée' and 'Republic of Korea', respectively.

Professor Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women's University criticized the mistake, emphasizing that it is unacceptable to misrepresent a country’s name at such a globally significant event. He urged the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Korean Olympic Committee to lodge a formal protest with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the event's organizing committee.

Seo also called for an official apology from the organizing committee and stressed the importance of ensuring that such errors do not occur again throughout the Olympic Games.