Various controversies related to South Korea have emerged at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, including the announcer at the opening ceremony mistakenly introducing South Korea as North Korea and incorrectly spelling gold medalist Oh Sang Uk’s name. This time, an Australian broadcaster mistakenly displayed the Chinese flag instead of the South Korean flag.
The Global Times reported several errors concerning South Korea during the recent events. These included mistakenly referring to South Korea as North Korea during the opening ceremony and misspelling Men’s sabre fencing gold medalist Oh Sang Uk’s name as Oh Sang Ku. These mistakes have caused significant frustration among South Koreans.
It continued, “9News, one of Australia’s most comprehensive news networks, wrongly used the Chinese national flag to mark South Korean athletes’ achievements on the medals tally on the first day of the Paris Olympic Games.”
In the reported photo, 9NEWS placed the Five Star Red Flag next to the South Korean team (KOREA REPUBLIC), which ranked fifth on the first day.
The Global Times added, “While South Koreans express their anger over this incident, many Chinese netizens joked that such incidents represent French people’s commendable sense of relaxation.”
South Korean fans have also voiced their opposition to this error.
Professor Seo Kyung Duk from Sungshin Women’s University stated that 9NEWS, one of Australia’s most representative news outlets, made a mistake while introducing the leaderboard on the first day of the Olympic Games. He added that they learned about it thanks to numerous reports from Korean residents and students in Australia, and local Koreans continuously sent protest emails to the broadcast station.
The broadcast station has not yet released an official statement regarding this controversy. However, the overall standings posted later on their official website correctly displayed the South Korean flag.