Taegeukgi Blocked, Then North Korean Anthem Played Instead of South Korean Anthem in Major Gaffe

During the Group A preliminary match of the Asian Games men's hockey between South Korea and Bangladesh on the morning of September 18.

Prior to the start of the match, the stadium announcer introduced the playing of the South Korean national anthem.

[Stadium Announcer: First, the national anthem of the Republic of Korea.]

However, the music that actually played was the intro to a different song, not the South Korean national anthem.

The South Korean players looked around in confusion and began murmuring, but the song continued all the way to the end without stopping.

After the song ended, a heavy silence hung over the stadium for nearly two minutes, followed by an apology from the announcer for playing the wrong song.

[Stadium Announcer: We are deeply sorry. We played the national anthem of another country instead of the national anthem of the Republic of Korea.]

However, upon verification, it was confirmed that the song played by the organizing committee was none other than the national anthem of North Korea.

An absurd hapening of confusing North and South Korea had occurred.

The national team players were able to hear the South Korean national anthem only after the greetings between the two teams concluded.

South Korea secured a 5-0 landslide victory against Bangladesh in the match that day.

Diplomatic discourtesies by the Japanese side toward the South Korean delegation have been repeating throughout the tournament.

Yesterday, there was an incident where local police blocked the main contingent of the South Korean delegation arriving in Nagoya from entering while holding the Taegeukgi, the South Korean national flag.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee stated, "Our officials stepped in and lodged a strong protest, but the local police did not back down, so we ultimately could not hold the Taegeukgi," adding, "We did not hear the exact reason for the obstruction."

At a cruise village event the day before yesterday, an actor disguised as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the mastermind behind the Japanese invasions of Korea, appeared, and on the organizing committee's official social media account that same night, Toyotomi appeared again, sparking controversy.

Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Kim Min-ji | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.