Following the playing of North Korea’s national anthem, this time the South Korean national anthem was omitted.
On the 19th, during the women’s handball match between South Korea and Hong Kong at the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games, the sequence of national anthem performances was skipped. Neither the South Korean national anthem nor the Hong Kong national anthem (the Chinese national anthem) was played.
In international multi-sport events, national anthems are typically performed during national team competitions. The IHF (International Handball Federation) also stipulates in its regulations that procedures such as court entry, lining up, team introductions, and national anthem performances must be followed before matches.
However, in the match held at 10 a.m. at the En Trio in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, the Asian Games Organizing Committee introduced the players on the court and immediately proceeded to the game.
This does not appear to be a simple mistake. According to findings by the Korea Handball Federation, the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) had decided to temporarily suspend national anthem performances across all sports, not just handball.
After incidents such as the playing of North Korea’s national anthem instead of South Korea’s during the men’s hockey match between South Korea and Bangladesh the previous day, the OCA judged that the event’s operational process needed reorganization and issued this directive.
The organizing committee received the directive that morning and proceeded with the South Korea-Hong Kong match without national anthem performances. The committee had previously apologized in person to the South Korean delegation the night before regarding the North Korean anthem incident.
The sudden absence of the national anthem sequence, without prior explanation, left both teams visibly confused. South Korean coach Lee Gye-cheong stated, “This is the first time I’ve seen something like this at an international competition.”
A federation official said, “I heard that besides yesterday’s hockey and today’s handball, other events also faced national anthem issues, so they decided not to play anthems for the time being. The men’s handball match between Kuwait and Iran also skipped anthem performances.”
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