North Koreans Walk Off After Wrong Flag Shown
Spectators sit in the stands under a North Korean national flag ahead of their women’s Group G football match against Colombia at the London 2012 Olympic Games in Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland July 25, 2012. Photo: Reuters David Moir
(REUTERS) – North Korea’s Olympic women’s soccer team walked off the pitch before Wednesday’s match against Colombia after the South Korea flag was incorrectly displayed on a giant screen at Glasgow’s Hampden Park stadium.
The Group G game was delayed for over an hour after images of the North Korea players were displayed beside the South Korea flag and London Olympics organisers had to issue an apology.
“Today ahead of the women’s football match at Hampden Park, the Republic of Korea flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea flag,” organisers LOCOG said in a statement.
“Clearly that is a mistake, we will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.”
The game had been scheduled to kick off at 1845 GMT.
The “wrong” flag that was displayed as the North Korean team entered the field.
Hampden Park media manager Andy Mitchell told Reuters: “The South Korean flag was shown in the video package on the screen before the kickoff and the North Koreans were naturally very upset about that.
“We have made a full apology to the team and the North Korean NOC. A genuine mistake was made for which we apologise.”
The two Koreas are divided by the world’s most militarised border and remain technically at war after an armistice ended the Korean War in 1953.
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