N. Korea protests display of S. Korea flag

GLASGOW, Scotland -- London Olympic organizers mistakenly displayed the South Korean flag on a jumbo screen instead of North Korea's before a women's soccer match yesterday, 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 and organizers apologized.

"If this matter couldn't have been resolved, then I thought going on is nonsense," coach Sin Ui Gun said through an interpreter after North Korea won, 2-0. "We were angry because our players were introduced as if they were from South Korea, which may affect us very greatly as you might know."

Large images of the North Korea flag were put up on both stadium jumbo screens during the delay and the players finally came out.

The team manager refused to have the coach respond to a question of what North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's reaction would have been to the incident.

The London organizers took the blame. "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," organizers said. "We will apologize to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again."