The International Olympic Committee (IOC) apologized today for a gaffe during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics in which South Korean athletes were mistakenly introduced as North Korean.

As the South Korean delegation sailed on the Seine River in the French capital, they were presented with the official name for North Korea: "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French, or "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", KosovaPress reports.

"We deeply apologize for the error that occurred during the presentation of the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony," the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language account.

The mistake sparked backlash in South Korea, a global cultural and technological powerhouse that is technically still at war with the impoverished, nuclear-armed North.

South Korea's sports ministry said in a statement that it "regrets" the "announcement during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team."

Second Vice Sports Minister Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion, has requested a meeting with IOC chief Thomas Bach to discuss the matter, he added.

The sports ministry has also asked the foreign ministry to "give a strong protest to the French side" over the issue, the statement said.

South Korea's National Olympic Committee plans to meet with the Paris Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and the IOC to express their protest, request measures to prevent a repeat and send an official letter of protest under the name of the head of the delegation. his, said the ministry of sports.

North Korea was correctly introduced by the country's official name.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North strengthening military ties with Russia while sending thousands of balloons carrying trash to the South.

In response, Seoul's military blasts K-pop and anti-regime messages from border loudspeakers and recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula.