North Korea belatedly begins Olympic broadcasts after IOC agreement

North Korea began broadcasting the Paris 2024 Olympics ten days after the opening ceremony, having secured broadcast rights from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the cessation of support from South Korean broadcasters.

Kim Mi-rae of North Korea, right, holds up the North Korean flag after winning the bronze medal in the women's 10-meter platform diving event at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

North Korea began broadcasting the Paris 2024 Olympics ten days after the opening ceremony, having secured broadcast rights from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the cessation of support from South Korean broadcasters.

"The IOC has agreed to provide coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to the Radio and Television Broadcasting Committee in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," an IOC official told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Olympic Broadcasting Services [the subordinate body of the IOC] provides feed to media rights-holding broadcasters around the world."

North Korea aired about seven minutes of news on the Paris Olympics — which began on July 26 — on Aug. 4, according to the broadcast schedule of North Korean Central TV published on South Korea's Unification Ministry online portal. This was followed by a roughly 50-minute delayed broadcast of the mixed doubles table tennis round of 16 against Japan.

In the past, South Korean broadcasters have supported North Korea with Olympic broadcast rights on humanitarian grounds. For the Paris 2024 Olympics, South Korean broadcaster SBS held the exclusive broadcast rights, and in principle, North Korea cannot broadcast the Olympics without requesting or negotiating with SBS. However, the IOC's agreement to provide Olympic footage directly to North Korea allowed it to bypass South Korean broadcasters.

Regarding the delay in broadcasting Olympic events, the IOC official said it is "not aware of any technical problems with the delivery of the coverage," suggesting the decision not to broadcast early events was made internally within North Korea.

Meanwhile, North Korea reportedly mosaicked only the United States flag during its delayed broadcast of the women's 200-meter butterfly final on Aug. 4. The edited footage showed Summer McIntosh from Canada, Regan Smith from the U.S. and Zhang Yufei from China crossing the finish line, but the broadcast only displayed the flags of Canada and China and obscured the U.S. flag, according to Yonhap News Agency.

During the Qatar 2022 World Cup, North Korea altered the South Korean flag in the stands to gray and blurred advertisements for American and South Korean companies. In the 2024 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup, North Korea reported on its victory over "puppet South Korea" while obscuring the South Korean flag on the players' uniforms. These actions likely reflect concerns that broadcasting South Korean and U.S. imagery could undermine regime cohesion.

As of Wednesday, North Korea has won five medals, including two silver and three bronze, ranking 50th overall in this year's competition.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]