LOCOG apologizes to DPRK after flag blunder

LONDON - The organizers of 2012 London Olympic Games has issued a statement of apology after mistakingly using the national flag of Republic of Korea (ROK) for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) team before an Olympics group match of women's football on Wednesday.

"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 DPRK flag," said the statement issued by the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

"Clearly, that is a mistake, we will apologize to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again."

The match was scheduled to start at 7:45 pm local time but was delayed for one hour and five minutes as the wrathful DPRK officials and players refused to compete. The match finally kicked off at 8:50.

The flag blunder happened on the first competition day of London Olympics, which saw the British women's team beat New Zealand 1-0 to earn the first victory for Team GB in the opening match.