National Anthem Mix-up Leads to Playing North Korean Anthem Instead of South Korea's at Asian Games

Before the men's hockey Group A preliminary match against Bangladesh at the Asian Games this morning (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 intro that actually played was not the national anthem, but a different song.

The South Korean players began looking around in confusion, whispering to each other, but the song continued all the way to the end without stopping.

After the song finished, 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 Republic of Korea's national anthem.]

Upon verification, it was confirmed that the song played by the competition's organizing committee was none other than the North Korean national anthem.

An absurd mix-up occurred in which North Korea and South Korea were confused.

The national team players were only able to hear their actual national anthem belatedly after the greetings between the two teams concluded.

South Korea secured a 5-0 resounding victory over Bangladesh in that day's match.

Diplomatic discourtesies by the Japanese side toward the South Korean delegation have been repeated throughout the event.

Yesterday, local police blocked the main body of the South Korean athletic delegation, who arrived in Nagoya, from entering while holding the Taegeukgi (South Korean national flag).

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee stated, "Our officials stepped forward to lodge a strong protest, but local police would not relent, so we ultimately could not hold the Taegeukgi," adding, "We did not receive a clear reason for the restriction."

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

(Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Kim Minji | Graphics by Yang Hyemin | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.