Organizers apologize as Asian Games plagued by anthem mix-up, wrong country name and transport chaos

Operational blunders have continued to pile up at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, casting a shadow over Japan's reputation for meticulous craftsmanship.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and other Japanese media, a serious error occurred during the men's hockey match between South Korea and Bangladesh on Friday, when North Korea's national anthem was played instead of South Korea's.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee lodged a formal protest, and the organizing committee issued an official apology.

Then on Sunday, another mistake occurred at the modern pentathlon medal ceremony, where South Korea was incorrectly introduced as the "Republic of China." The error was later corrected.

Transportation and accommodation problems have also persisted throughout the Games.

The South Korean men's basketball team was forced to cancel its morning practice session on Sunday due to a bus scheduling failure ahead of the final. The Chinese delegation was stranded at the airport for several hours, and transport disruptions have been occurring at a rate of two to three incidents per day.

The Games have no dedicated athletes' village, with participants instead housed across large cruise ships and other dispersed accommodations. Delayed check-in procedures and difficulties with room assignments have drawn widespread complaints from national delegations.

As criticism mounted, Ami Takaaki, deputy secretary-general of the organizing committee, bowed in apology at a press conference, saying, "I apologize for the human errors."

Local media pointed to the fallout from the Tokyo Olympics corruption scandal, which led to the exclusion of major advertising agencies such as Dentsu and the deployment of a large number of inexperienced staff — a factor cited as a key cause of the operational failures.

Ami acknowledged the issue, saying, "There is a possibility that human errors occurred because many staff members lack experience," but added, "There have been no serious mistakes affecting the competitions themselves. We are managing somehow."

He also said there was no impact on the competitions and that the organizing committee was working on improvements every day. He attributed some of the bus scheduling and accommodation problems to late-night and emergency requests from national delegations, as well as incomplete paperwork.

Japanese media outlets based in Nagoya, including the Chunichi Shimbun, had already given prominent coverage on Saturday to a series of organizational missteps by the Games' organizing committee.

According to Yonhap, the official athletes' village welcome ceremony for delegations from North Korea, Palestine, Taiwan, East Timor, Yemen and India was delayed by one hour and 30 minutes due to a breakdown in communication between the organizing committee and the Olympic Council of Asia.

The Chunichi Shimbun quoted a male volunteer in his 60s as saying he did not receive his finalized work schedule until Thursday — a schedule that differed from the one decided in early August.

"We have to arrange our own accommodation and transportation, which is really difficult," the volunteer told the paper. "This should never happen."

The organizing committee had projected attendance of 15,000 participants, while the OCA put the figure at 17,000 — a discrepancy of 2,000 that left organizers scrambling to secure additional lodging.