N Korea anthem mistakenly played for S Korea at Asian Games — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Asian Games organisers mistakenly played North Korea's national anthem instead of South Korea's before the South Korean men's hockey match against Bangladesh on Friday at Green Stadium in Gifu, Japan, leaving South Korean players looking around in confusion.
- The stadium announcer quickly apologized over the PA system, saying: "We are really sorry, terribly sorry. National anthem for the Republic of Korea, we played a different song."
- South Korea won the match 5-0 against Bangladesh despite the pre-match incident.
- North Korea's national anthem is banned in South Korea along with other symbols of their wartime foes, with the 1950-1953 Korean War ending in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, meaning the two Koreas remain technically at war.
- The Asian Games organising committee did not immediately comment on the anthem mix-up, and South Korea has lodged other complaints about the games — including basketball players unhappy with their room sizes and transport issues disrupting the defending-champion men's football team's preparations.
Why it matters: Playing an anthem that is legally banned in South Korea — for a country still technically at war with the North — is more than a routine DJ error; it embarrassed the South Korean delegation publicly on an international stage and added to a growing list of organizational complaints South Korea has raised at the games.
Ask SkimNews
