Snafu on S. Korean anthem found on Olympic info system
Organizers of the Nagano Olympic Winter Games on Saturday removed a reference to South Korea's national anthem from the Olympic on-line information service after complaints that the service had identified the country's national anthem incorrectly.

''Info '98,'' the technological pride of the Nagano Olympic organizing committee (NAOC), provides real-time information in English, Japanese and French to journalists covering the Winter Games, including flash quotes, games results and athletes' biographies, as well as profiles of participating countries.

All references to the national anthem on South Korea's ''country profile'' page were deleted after South Korean journalists complained that the title of the song was wrong, a NAOC official said.

''We have decided to strike it out until we have time to check whether it was wrong or not,'' the official said.

The South Korean daily Dong-A Ilbo reported in its early Sunday edition that ''Info '98'' erroneously listed a Korean song named ''Soaring Mt. Paektu'' as South Korea's national anthem. The actual anthem is ''Aekukka,'' or ''I love my country.''

The NAOC official said the anthem name that appeared on Info '98 came from a CD on national anthems in the world that was issued last August as an official, licensed product for the Nagano Winter Games.

(Kyodo News)

(January 31, 1998)