London apologizes for DPRK flag mix-up

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London Olympic organizers apologized on Thursday after a mix-up over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's flag prompted its women's soccer team to walk off the pitch in an embarrassing start to the Games.

The DPRK squad was pictured next to the national flag of the Republic of Korea at their opening match against Colombia on Wednesday at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.

On the first day of sporting events ahead of Friday's opening ceremony, the DPRK team walked off but were persuaded to return an hour later, when the teams were re-announced with each player's face shown next to the correct flag.

"We made a mistake, it is as simple as that," Paul Deighton, chief executive of Games organizers LOCOG, told BBC radio.

The DPRK went on to win the match 2-0.

But the team's coach Sin Ui-gun said: "Winning the game cannot compensate this. It is a different matter. We hope there is no repeat in the next matches." The flag flap began during player introductions when a DPRK player was introduced along with a shot of the ROK flag.

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

Wednesday's match started 1 hour, 5 minutes late. Fans were confused at first, then turned to doing the wave and finally started booing as they became increasingly restless.

An announcement was eventually made over the public address system about 20 minutes after the scheduled 7:45 pm kick-off, apologizing for the delay and saying it "was due to an issue behind the scenes. We're trying to resolve it and we'll keep you updated".

To pass more time, music was pumped from the speakers. Players from both teams finally emerged onto the field about 40 minutes after the match was supposed to begin.

The players warmed up again for 10 minutes before they returned inside the tunnel to be led out again for the national anthems.

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.