National Anthem Error in Asian Games Hockey: North Korean Anthem Played Instead of South Korea's

Today (18th) morning marked the Group A preliminary match in men's hockey between South Korea and Bangladesh at the Asian Games.

Before the match began, 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 intro music that actually played was not the national anthem, but a different song.

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

After the song ended, silence filled 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, it was confirmed that the song played by the organizing committee was none other than the North Korean national anthem.

An absurd hapening took place where North Korea and South Korea were mistaken for each other.

The national team players were able to listen to the actual national anthem only after the greetings between both 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 competition.

Yesterday, local police blocked the main contingent of the South Korean delegation arriving in Nagoya from entering while holding the Taegeukgi (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 restriction."

At a cruise athletes' village event the day before, an actor dressed up as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the mastermind behind the Japanese invasions of Korea, appeared, and on the same night, Toyotomi appeared once again on the organizing committee's official social media account, 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.