North Korea's Olympic women's football team walked off the pitch for an hour at their opening London 2012 match after organizers mistakenly introduced the players using South Korea's flag.

 

Just four hours after the first action of London 2012, the Games saw its first gaffe¹（失态，过失） when the electronic scoreboard at Hampden Park displayed the South Korean flag ahead of North Korean women's football match against Colombia.

 

The entire team left the pitch in protest when they saw the wrong flag next to their names on the screen.

 

The match had been due to start at 7:45pm but there was a delay of at least an hour while the mistake was corrected. The game eventually kicked off（中线开球） shortly before 9pm.

 

Announcers at the stadium apologized for the delay and said there was "an issue behind the scenes".

 

There were reports that fans had booed while others walked out after being kept waiting.

 

Before the match, Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: "The Olympics is of huge importance and the fact Hampden will be front and centre as the world turns it attention to the UK is great news for Glasgow and Scotland as a whole.

 

"The Olympics is our chance to show the world what we are capable of as a nation and the hard work of people across the country is helping² ensure the success of the Games.

 

"I am looking forward to watching the game and hearing the first-ever Olympic roar at Hampden later today."

 

North Korea is no stranger to Olympic controversies³. In 1964, the nation withdrew from the Olympics after the IOA banned countries that took part in the 1963 Games of the New Emerging Forces.

 

The country also boycotted⁴ the 1988 Games after being snubbed（冷落，斥责） as co-hosts for the Seoul Games.

 

A Locog spokesman said: "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, we will apologize to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again."

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