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UN Secretary-General playfully apologizes after mistakenly referring to Austria as Australia

November 6, 2014
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon holds up a T-shirt that reads, "No kangaroos in Austria" after mistakenly saying "Australia" instead of "Austria" at a U.N. Conference in Vienna, Monday. (Yonhap)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon holds up a T-shirt that reads, “No kangaroos in Austria” after mistakenly saying “Australia” instead of “Austria” at a U.N. Conference in Vienna, Monday. (Yonhap)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon playfully apologized Monday after mistakenly referring to “Austria” as “Australia” during a U.N. conference in Vienna.

Addressing a conference of developing landlocked countries, Ban thanked the wrong country for hosting the event.

“I thank in particular President Fischer and the government of Australia,” Ban said.

Twenty minutes into his speech, he corrected himself and apologized for the gaffe, saying, “There are no kangaroos in Austria. Sometimes this happens, I hope you understand.”

Soon, Ban showed another apologetic action, posting a picture of himself holding up a T-shirt that read, “No Kangaroos in Austria.”