Flag faux pas on the Olympics angers North Koreans

by | Jul 26, 2012 | Free Press Releases

Manchester Olympic organizers mistakenly displayed the South Korean flag with a jumbo screen instead of North Korea's before a women's soccer match Wednesday, prompting the North Koreans to will not take the field for nearly an hour.

The flag flap began during player introductions if a North Korean player was introduced as well as a shot of the South Korean flag.

The match against Colombia was delayed for a lot more than an hour, and organizers apologized for the miscalculation.

"If this matter couldn't have been resolved, then I thought going on is usually nonsense, " coach Sin Ui Gun said with the interpreter after North Korea won 2-0. "We were angry because our players were introduced like they were from South Korea, which may affect us very greatly while you might know. "

The coach said the organizers repaired the mix-up, although it took some time. Large images of the North Korea flag were organize on both stadium jumbo screens through the delay and the players finally turned out.

The team manager refused to have the coach respond to a question associated with what North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's reaction would have been to the incident.

The London organizers took the guilt.

"Today ahead of the women's footballing match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown using a big screen video package as opposed to the North Korean flag. Clearly that is a mistake, " organizers said. "We will apologize to the team along with the National Olympic Committee and steps is going to be taken to ensure this does not necessarily happen again. "

The statement, however, included another gaffe: It failed to refer to the particular countries by their official Olympic names, causing organizers to reissue the assertion using "Republic of Korea" and "Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea. "

Commenting on the flap, the International Olympic Committee pointed for you to London officials.

"It's a matter for the managers, " IOC spokesman Mark Adams claimed.

The players walked past reporters following match still in uniform without stopping. Two were carrying flags - the proper North Korean one.

North Korea and South Korea tend to be bitter rivals. The flag mix-up comes amid high tension on the Korean Peninsula following a North Korean long-range rocket launch in April and repeated threats by Pyongyang to attack the To the south. Seoul and the U. S. have called the launch a cover for just a test of banned long-range missile technology. North Korea says the rocket, which broke apart shortly after liftoff, was meant to put a satellite television into orbit.

To pass more time, music was pumped from the loudspeakers. Players from both teams finally blossomed onto the field about 40 minutes following the match was supposed to begin. The players warmed up again pertaining to 10 minutes before they returned inside tunnel to be led out again for that national anthems.

"It was very difficult after the actual incident, " Colombia coach Ricardo Rozo explained. "We had to wait and warm up again. It affected the mood because we were ready for your match.

"I've never had anything happen like this before, where a country can delay a match on an hour. "

Flag controversies aren't new at this Olympics. At the 1992 Barcelona Games, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley from your Dream Team draped U. S. flags over their shoulders to hide a rival sponsor's logo on the jackets when they received their gold medals.

At the 2010 Vancouver Games, the Australians displayed a flag with a boxing kangaroo - the mascot for your country's team - in the athletes village, despite an International Olympic Committee rule that always only permits official national flags to become displayed. The IOC eventually relented.

In 2000, sprinter Cathy Freeman caused a blend when she took a victory clapboard after winning the 400-meter final on the Sydney Games draped in the Aboriginal the flag, which was not recognized as an official national flag by the IOC.

London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony

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