South Korea's sports ministry on Saturday expressed regret over a gaffe during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in which its athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korean.

As the South Korean delegation rode a boat on the Seine River and entered the ceremony as the 48th participating nation, the French-speaking presenter introduced them using the official name for North Korea: "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French, then "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in English.

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