During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
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Parade order
As the nation of the first modern Olympic Games, Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation South Korea marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (Korean), according with tradition and IOC guidelines. The collation method used is based on the names as written in Hangul, a traditional Korean alphabet.
Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. The Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T so that they did not enter together with conflicting People's Republic of China (commonly known as China), which entered as the "People's Republic of China" under C. The Republic of the Congo entered as the "People's Republic of the Congo" while the Democratic Republic of Congo entered under its former name, Zaire.
List
The following is a list of each country's announced flag bearer. The list is sorted by the order in which each nation appears in the parade of nations. This table is sortable by country name (in Korean and its Roman transliteration), the flag bearer's name, and the flag bearer's sport. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC.