"Anger in Korea Over Repeated Mistakes at Paris Olympics"…Chinese Media [Paris Olympics]

Chinese Netizens Continue Mocking
"Koreans Complain of Discrimination Due to Sensitivity"

Photo by 9 News Capture

As the 2024 Paris Olympics faces criticism for mistakenly introducing participating countries, Chinese media reported that Koreans are angered by ongoing controversies surrounding the representation of South Korea's country name and the Taegukgi flag at the Paris Olympics.

In particular, some Chinese netizens posted sarcastic comments suggesting that these mistakes stem from the French people's relaxed attitude and that South Korea is overreacting, sparking further controversy.

Photo by Chinese SNS capture

Earlier, at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, the announcer introduced South Korea, which should have been introduced as 'Daehanminguk,' by the official North Korean name 'Joseon Minjujuui Inmin Gonghwaguk,' causing a major controversy. Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), personally called President Yoon Suk-yeol to apologize.

On the 30th, Chinese media Xinmin Weekly reported, "On the 27th, in posts and photos introducing each country's delegation on the official Paris Olympics Instagram, the backs of Korean athletes and the Taegukgi flag appeared particularly blurry," adding that "Korean netizens protested, saying they were 'discriminated against.'"

On the 28th, in the men's individual sabre fencing event where Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon City Hall) won the gold medal, his name was also misspelled. The organizing committee mistakenly wrote Oh Sang-wook's English name 'Oh Sanguk' as 'Oh Sangku (Oh Sang-gu).' The Global Times emphasized that this was not the only mistake related to the Korean flag at this Olympics.

The newspaper explained that French media combined the flags of South Korea and Japan to create the South Korean flag, and in the medal tally chart, the South African flag was mistakenly used instead of the Taegukgi when showing South Korea's ranking, causing further resentment.

These mistakes were not only made by the host country France or the organizing committee.

The Global Times reported that '9News,' one of Australia's leading news networks, made a mistake by using the Chinese national flag, the Five-star Red Flag, when introducing South Korea's medal ranking. However, the Global Times pointed out that South Korea was not the only country affected by mistakes at this Olympics.

The organizing committee made an error by displaying the Chinese Five-star Red Flag instead of the Argentine flag when an Argentine swimmer entered, and in the men's basketball preliminaries, they showed the Sudanese flag instead of the South Sudanese flag, despite the territorial dispute between the two countries. The host country France also became involved in a mistake during the men's team archery event, where despite winning the silver medal, the South Korean flag was displayed lower than that of Turkey, which won the bronze medal.

China, which has a high interest in sports, is paying attention not only to news about Olympic events but also to the fact that South Korea is suffering from the host country's mistakes.

On the Chinese portal site Baidu, articles about Korean netizens protesting the mistakes at the Paris Olympics have ranked among the most popular articles in recent days. However, Chinese netizens tend to respond mockingly, suggesting that these mistakes arise from the French people's openness, freedom, inclusiveness, and relaxed attitude rather than pointing out that the mistakes are wrong.

One Chinese netizen said, "Korean netizens are too sensitive and complain about discrimination even over trivial matters," adding, "The organizers have already apologized, so what more do they want?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.