Asian Games apologize for wrong anthem at South Korea hockey match — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Asian Games organizers played North Korea's national anthem for South Korea's men's hockey team before their Sep 18 match against Bangladesh, then played Bangladesh's and South Korea's anthems afterward; South Korea won 5-0.
- The organizing committee told AFP that officials visited the Republic of Korea delegation to offer "sincere apologies" and pledged to "prevent a recurrence."
- South Korea coach Min Tae-seok called the mistake "a really serious problem" and said organizers blamed human error by those responsible for playing the wrong anthem.
- A stadium announcer apologized for the blunder during the event, but South Korean officials were left angered by the latest mishap at the Nagoya-Aichi Games.
- The build-up to the Games was already overshadowed by team complaints about the quality and amount of accommodation, with some teams stranded at the airport for up to six hours when they arrived.
Why it matters: For South Korea — a country whose national identity is acutely sensitive to conflation with North Korea — playing the wrong anthem at a major international sporting event is a diplomatic-grade embarrassment for organizers. The coach's sharp public rebuke and organizers' promise of an investigation put pressure on the Asian Games to restore credibility with participating nations before further competition.
Ask SkimNews
