'Worst AG disaster' before the Taeguk Warriors: 'North Korean national anthem' played... "The culprit is a French company"... No apology, just "strict confidentiality" and buck-passing [Aichi Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

The unprecedented incident in which the North Korean national anthem was played instead of the South Korean national anthem at a men's hockey match at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games has been revealed to be caused by an error made by an employee of a French event management company.

On the 30th, Japanese weekly magazine "Shukan Bunshun" exclusively obtained records from an internal group chat of the tournament organizing committee and reported that the personnel responsible for audio transmission during the match between South Korea and Bangladesh held on the 18th in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, were dispatched employees belonging to the French operating company "GL Events Japan."

At the time, South Korean players could not hide their bewilderment when the North Korean national anthem was played instead of the South Korean national anthem, and the organizers belatedly recognized the mistake, resulting in a farcical situation where they had to switch the audio file.

The organizing committee explained at a press conference on the 23rd that while managing the national anthems of participating countries together on a single terminal, a private contractor transmitted the wrong file.

According to the internal chat records released by Shukan Bunshun, an organizing committee staff member in charge of production stated, "Misidentifying flags or national anthems is a serious matter that could escalate into international and political conflicts," urging vigilance. The message further specified that the audio personnel responsible for this incident belonged to GL Events Japan, and demanded preventive measures from the company, including prohibiting the storage of unused audio files on devices on the day of the event and conducting pre-broadcast cross-checks by multiple personnel.

As the controversy grew, GL Events Japan cited confidentiality obligations to avoid mentioning specific work details, offering only a general response that they would "comply with laws and contracts and strive for the smooth operation of the tournament." The organizing committee did not respond within the deadline to Shukan Bunshun's request for comment.

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*This content was translated by AI.