Japanese organizers of the Asian Games played the North Korean national anthem for the South Korean men’s field hockey team on Friday, before apologizing for the mistake.
South Korean officials were outraged by the incident, which occurred on the eve of the opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday in Nagoya. The two countries are technically still at war since their 1950-1953 conflict concluded with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
South Korea crushed Bangladesh 5-0, but before the match, the North Korean national anthem played instead of South Korea’s. The South Korean players, who had lined up to listen to their anthem, looked at each other, perplexed.
The organizers then played the anthem of Bangladesh and then, aware of their mistake, continued with that of South Korea, said the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
However, the referee ordered players from both teams to shake hands and start preparing for the match even before the anthem ended, according to the agency.
The stadium announcer apologized for this blunder, but South Korea coach Min Tae-seok did not appreciate it at all.
“This is a really serious problem. When we protested, they said: We are sorry. It’s not that it wasn’t prepared, but there was an error on the part of the people responsible for broadcasting,” he said. “But this is something that should simply never happen,” he lamented.
A South Korean Olympic Committee official said his organization was working to get to the bottom of what happened. “We are currently investigating this matter to verify the exact facts,” he told AFP.
The preparation for these Games was overshadowed by complaints from numerous teams regarding the quality and number of accommodation made available to them.
Some delegations also found themselves stuck at the airport for nearly six hours upon arriving in Japan this week.
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