Taegeukgi Stays Put, Hinomaru Flies Highest: South Korea's Flag Fails to Rise at Medal Ceremony

Last night (October 3), Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

During the men's football award ceremony, South Korea's national flag, the Taegeukgi, fails to rise after the country won the gold medal.

Officials panicked and tried to fix the issue, but the Taegeukgi ultimately failed to go up until the national anthem ended.

The South Korean players, standing with the joy of victory, were taken aback, while boos erupted from the stands.

Because the Taegeukgi in the center failed to rise, it created a scene where the Japanese flag for the silver medalists ended up hanging in the highest position.

The South Korean men's national football team, which achieved its fourth consecutive Asian Games men's football title by defeating Japan 1–0, voiced their frustration.

[Lee Young-jun / Men's National Football Team Member: If they did it on purpose, I suppose they could have, and perhaps they wanted to be at the top in that kind of way... Since we were at the very top of the podium with our gold medals during the ceremony, it's fine.]

Throughout this Asian Games, mishaps caused by clumsy operations have been relentless.

During the South Korean men's hockey team match, North Korea's anthem was played instead of the South Korean national anthem, and the bus carrying the men's national football team got lost, causing the players to arrive late at the stadium.

Complaints from athletes poured in as the men's national basketball team also had to cancel training due to vehicle dispatch issues.

As such absurd incidents repeated themselves right until the day before the closing ceremony, criticism regarding the tournament's operation has also been pouring in from within Japan.

(Reported by Jeong Gyeong-yun | Video edited by Na Hong-hee | Designed by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.