Nagoya Asian Games Announce Korea as 'China' at a Medal Ceremony

Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The Nagoya Asian Games had already drawn daily coverage of operational problems — a North Korean anthem played by mistake, shuttle buses that never showed — so a naming blunder at the men's team modern pentathlon medal ceremony on September 20 was received as one more entry in the list. Gold-medalist Korea was introduced in English as the "Republic of China," and Korean media said no proper apology had followed. "Republic of China" is the formal name of Taiwan, not the People's Republic of China. Whether an apology was issued is unclear and disputed — by contrast, the organizing committee did publicly apologize for the separate North Korean anthem incident. Online, the dominant reaction separated dislike of Korea from the blunder itself ("this one deserves anger"), while a smaller group spun an unconfirmed theory that the operation is China-linked and botched the name deliberately, without any evidence behind it.

Key Reaction Themes

• A mishap, judged apart from feelings about Korea — The largest share treated it as an operations failure: even self-described Korea-skeptics said the blunder deserves anger, and slotted it into a Games already full of screw-ups.
• Terminology and fact corrections — A prominent strand pointed out that "Republic of China" is Taiwan's formal name, that China itself would be the angriest at hearing it, and that the organizer being Nagoya's committee, a French contractor, and Japanese firms like JTB undercuts the "China did it" theory.
• The "it was intentional" conspiracy reading — A smaller group insisted the operation is China-linked and the errors are deliberate, without evidence.
• Self-deprecation — A minor thread joked that Japan has become as sloppy as the countries it usually mocks.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Korea announced as "China" at the medal ceremony

At the men's team modern pentathlon ceremony, gold-medalist Korea was introduced in English as the "Republic of China," and Korean media said no apology followed.

YouTube

Sources: Tokyo Sports

Comments:

• "I don't like Korea, but they've got every right to be angry about this one."
• "I don't like Japan, but they've got every right to be angry about this one."
• "Saw on X that the organizers are apparently tied to China — some suspect the whole string of screw-ups is deliberate."
• "'Republic of China' is actually Taiwan's official country name — the one thing anyone connected to China would absolutely never say."
• "If anything, China never even lets foreign companies use that name, so the ones angriest would be China. This tournament is finished."
• "The organizing committee is Nagoya's, the operations contractor is a French firm, and lodging and transport trace back to Japanese companies like JTB — is China really mixed up in all these blunders?"
• "Hey, hey — I'm quietly starting to realize... maybe Japan is a terrible, garbage country?"
• "Japan really is the worst country in Asia now, huh."
• "Korea's so narrow-minded — getting angry over nothing but lousy lodging and meals, the wrong venue, an enemy's anthem being played, being denied practice, and their country's name being botched."
• "Japan's becoming as sloppy as China and Korea now, lol."