London Olympic organisers mistakenly displayed the South Korean flag on a jumbo screen instead of North Korea’s before a women’s soccer match today, prompting the North Koreans to refuse to take the field for nearly an hour.
The flag flap began during player introductions when a North Korean player was introduced along with a shot of the South Korean flag.
The match against Colombia was delayed for more than an hour, and organisers apologised for the error.
“Today ahead of the women’s football match at Hampden Park, the South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag. Clearly that is a mistake,” organisers said. “We will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.”
The match started more than an hour later.