North Korea football team pictured with south’s flag at Olympics, video producer in trouble

A London-based video producer was blamed yesterday for a major technical blunder that ...

13:58 29 July 2012

A London-based video producer was blamed yesterday for a major technical blunder that led to a diplomatic row. 

 

The North Korean women’s football team walked off in protest when the flag of their rival South Korea was shown on the big screen next to the photos of their players instead of their own flag. The incident occurred in Scotland’s Hampden Park just before the team played against Colombia. 

 

North Koreans who were there to support their team looked on in horror as their players were mistakenly represented by the wrong flag. This prompted North Korean official Son Kwang Ho to make a furious complaint.

 

It took an hour to persuade the North Koreans to continue with the match after the huge blunder was rectified. They only decided to come back to the field when the right flag was finally displayed on the screen. The blunder seems to have raised their patriotic spirits, though, because the team soon won the match at 2-0. 

 

Today, it was found that the blunder was caused by an Olympic official who sent the video package to Hampden. The organisers at Hampden had no input whatsoever in the video. The official, who remains unnamed, ‘has since offered to resign’ after the incident.

 

Games organisers have issued an apology, and Prime Minister David Cameron has come out with a statement saying that it was an ‘honest mistake’.