It wasn’t the best way to kick off the Olympics – particularly given the international tensions involved.

这不是开始伦敦奥运会的方式，特别是将国际紧张局势都牵扯进来。

As North Korea’s women footballers warmed up for their match against Colombia last night, the flag of bitter rival South Korea was proudly shown on the big screens around the stadium.

在昨晚朝鲜女足进行和哥伦比亚女足比赛的赛前热身时，朝鲜人的仇敌韩国的国旗竟然出现在体育场四周的大屏幕上。

North Korean official Son Kwang Ho (second right) points furiously after the flag of arch-rivals South Korea is shown next to his players' faces by mistake.

朝鲜官员在韩国国旗错误地出现在朝鲜女足队员头像旁时，愤怒地向奥组委工作人员投诉。

That prompted a walk-off by the North Koreans, who refused to play the match at the scheduled 7.45pm start time at the Hampden Park stadium in Scotland.

比赛原定于晚上7点45分在苏格兰汉普顿公园球场进行。但这个错误引发了朝鲜女足队员退场抗议，她们拒绝进行这场的比赛。

They were eventually persuaded to return when the sides were announced again, with each player’s face displayed next to the North Korean flag.

在朝鲜女足队员被重新介绍，并且使用了正确的朝鲜国旗之后，朝鲜女足队员被说服重新回到场上进行比赛。

Games organisers Locog said: ‘The South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag.

奥组委官员Locog说：“韩国国旗错误地代替了朝鲜国旗出现在了大屏幕要播放的录像带中。”

'Clearly this is a mistake. We will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.’

“很明显这是一个错误。我们会向朝鲜代表团和朝鲜奥组委表示歉意，并且会采取措施保证类似事件不会再发生。”

Shock result! North Korea's players celebrate after winning 2-0 against Colombia.

这场比赛的结果让人震惊。朝鲜女足队员在2：0击败哥伦比亚女足后热烈庆祝。

【小编注】奥组委事后发表道歉咨文向朝鲜代表团致歉，不过与此同时，也有不少英国人在为组委会开脱：在英语中习惯用Korea代指朝鲜，并用South Korea代指韩国；但在奥运会大家庭中，Korea反而成了韩国；而朝鲜则是Korea DPR。而这也许正是为“国旗事件”埋下的导火引线。