PYEONGCHANG: South Koreans angry at North Korea鈥檚 perceived 鈥渉ijacking鈥� of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics have sarcastically dubbed it the 鈥淧yongyang Games,鈥� but it seems many really are struggling to differentiate between the two places.
Hundreds of Twitter users in recent days have referred to 鈥淧yongyang2018,鈥� and while some were making a dig at the presence of North Korea at the Games, in many cases it appears to have been a simple mix-up.
The two are easily confused, but there is a world of difference between them: Pyongyang is the capital of nuclear-armed North Korea, while Pyeongchang is the South Korean region hosting the Winter Olympics.
The number of mentions of 鈥淧yongyang2018鈥� spiked during Friday鈥檚 opening ceremony, when hosts South Korea and the North 鈥� two countries technically still at war 鈥� marched together behind the Korean unification flag.
The growing number of apparently unintentional references to Pyongyang irked at least one Twitter user in Washington, DC, who tweeted: 鈥淭he number of people mistakenly using #Pyongyang2018 to tweet about #PyeongChang2018 is not that surprising but nevertheless upsetting.鈥�
It isn鈥檛 the first time Pyeongchang has been confused with Pyongyang. The gold medal for mix-ups goes to the Kenyan delegate to a UN conference held in Pyeongchang in 2014, who mistakenly flew to Pyongyang instead.
Landing without a valid visa, he was interrogated for five hours by North Korean customs officials and fined $500.
Eager to differentiate, provincial authorities have since re-branded the South Korean ski resort as 鈥淧yeongChang,鈥� using an upper-case 鈥淐.鈥�