Asian Games anthem mix-up: North Korean song played before South Korea’s hockey match

A North Korean anthem was mistakenly played before South Korea's men's hockey match against Bangladesh at the Asian Games in Gifu on Friday. Organisers corrected the error, while South Korea lodged a complaint seeking an apology and measures to prevent recurrence

Nagoya:  In a bizarre mix-up, the national anthem of North Korea was played before South Korea’s men’s hockey match against Bangladesh at the Asian Games 2026 on Friday.

The incident left the South Korean players baffled, with some running their hands through their hair over the mishap ahead of their game at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, about 30 kilometres north of Nagoya.

---

The organisers corrected the mistake and played South Korea’s anthem after playing Bangladesh’s national anthem.

According to Yonhap, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said it had “lodged an official complaint with the organising committee over the anthem mix-up, demanding an official apology and prevention of a recurrence.”

It added that the match was delayed and the referee ordered the players to shake hands and get ready to play even before the anthem ended.

South Korea defeated Bangladesh 5-0 in the Pool A game, with Sim Jae-won, Lee Gang-san, Oh Se-yong, Bae Soung-min and Yang Ji-hun scoring one goal each.

The 2023 Asiad bronze medallists made light work of Bangladesh but were not taking their opponents lightly.

“We saw Bangladesh as a dark horse. We wanted to lock things down defensively in the first quarter,” South Korea head coach Min Tae-seok said, as quoted by Yonhap.

“And then we wanted to be more aggressive in the second quarter. And our players scored those goals after making their adjustments to the venue.”

Min also spoke about the anthem mishap.

“I can’t believe something like this happened at an international competition,” Min said.

South Korea and Bangladesh are placed in Pool A along with four other teams — defending gold medallists India, hosts and 2023 silver medallists Japan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s women also won their opener against Chinese Taipei 3-1 in Pool A later.