1988 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations
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. 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" ("차이니스 타이페이") under 타 "ta", while the conflicting People's Republic of China (commonly known as China) entered as "중화인민공화국" under 중. Among the nations with Korean names starting with 이 "i", several reorderings occurred due  to the hostile relationship between the countries. Hangul alphabetic order would have dictated , but Iran was moved three spaces later in the parade while Israel was moved five spaces later (an additional two spaces past Iran), changing the parade order into . A record of 160 nations entered the stadium with a combined total of 8,391 athletes. Eight nations made their Olympic debut: Aruba, American Samoa, Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen. North Korea and its ally Cuba boycotted the games for the second consecutive time, while Ethiopia, Albania and the Seychelles did not  respond to the invitations sent by the IOC, allegedly in solidarity with North Korea. Madagascar did not participate due to financial considerations, Nicaragua did not participate due to the ongoing civil war, and South Africa was excluded due to its apartheid policies. List. The following is a list of each country's announced flag bearer. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC. Some differences occurred between the official placard displays and the official announcements: