Korea’s anthem mistakenly played at Asian Para Games in Japan

After playing the wrong national anthem during the Asian Games, organizers of the Asian Para Games in Japan have also mistakenly played the wrong national anthems at three events, including Korea’s national anthem.

Ichiro Hirosawa, mayor of Nagoya and acting president of the organizing committee for the Asian Para Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, said Wednesday that three such incidents had occurred during the competition, Japanese news outlet Kyodo News reported the same day. 

During a women's sitting volleyball match between China and Iran on Monday afternoon, Korea's national anthem was mistakenly played instead of China's before the match.

Organizers realized the error and switched to the Chinese national anthem midway.

At a medal ceremony for a women's taekwondo event on Monday, Iran's national anthem was played instead of Mongolia's. In a men's taekwondo event, a Taiwanese athlete won gold, but Iran's national anthem was again played.

At the women's medal ceremony, organizers stopped the Iranian anthem midway and played Mongolia's instead. The medal ceremony for the men's event was held again on Wednesday.

The organizing committee attributed the mistakes to incorrect settings in its music playback software.

A similar incident occurred during the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, held earlier this year.

North Korea's national anthem was mistakenly played instead of South Korea's before a men's hockey match between Korea and Bangladesh. The organizing committee issued an official apology at the time.

"It was unacceptable that the problem recurred,” Hirosawa said in a press conference. “We sincerely apologize to the athletes and officials concerned.”

BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]