"Exo Oppa, I Did It"... K-Wave Sweeps Nagoya

[Anchor]

The popularity of Korean culture, which has captivated the world, also heated up the Asian Games venue. It was notable to see foreign athletes as well as local fans naturally speaking Korean.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin covered the K-culture craze that heated up the inside and outside of the stadiums.

[Reporter]

After winning his first-ever Asian Games gold medal, Hong Kong wushu athlete Sam Hui-yu, who served as flag bearer for the Hong Kong delegation at this event, delivers his thoughts in Korean to K-pop group EXO, his "driving force in life."

[Sam Hui-yu / Hong Kong Wushu Gold Medalist: EXO oppas, I did it. I finally won an Asian Games gold medal. You are my driving force. (You speak Korean so well?) No, not really.]

A Japanese athlete and a Hong Kong athlete have dinner with a South Korean athlete and chat together in fluent Korean.

[Nicholas: We've met separately, but this combination hasn't met in Korea yet, so next time let's go to Korea!]

[Mao: We've even met for the third time, meeting in Japan, ah no, it's the fourth time.]

[Oh Sang-uk: All three of us speaking Korean like this is—]

[Kokubo Mao / Japanese Fencing Silver Medalist: We got close with South Korean athletes at World Cups since we're neighboring countries, and I think that's why my Korean skills improved.]

At the League of Legends esports final, a unique scene unfolded as fans from various Asian countries cheered for South Korean players by shouting "fighting" in Korean.

[Fighting, fighting]

[Chinese Fan: I had a favorite celebrity, so I learned (Hangul) by myself. Now I like pro gamers. Does this go on SBS? (That's right) Really?]

Our athletes are also experiencing firsthand the growing status of Korean culture.

[Ahn Hyun-ki / Wushu Bronze Medalist: When you come to international competitions, foreign athletes can do basic communication in Korean to some extent. They all say they (learned it) through Korean idols and Korean dramas.]

[Lee Sang-hyeok / Esports League of Legends Gold Medalist: Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Hallyu stars, I think our esports has also benefited a lot from that Hallyu craze.]

The K-culture craze, transcending the barriers of language and borders, has become a brilliant connecting link building the theme of this event, "One Asia."

(Video by Park Hyun-chul | Video Editing by Park Gi-deok | Graphics by Park Tae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.