South Korea protests Asian Games ceremony featuring Japanese warlord linked to 16th‑century invasions

A woman walks past a logo of the 2022 Asian Games at the media village in Hangzhou on September 21, 2023. South Korea’s Olympic committee said today it filed a complaint with Asian Games organisers in Nagoya for featuring a Japanese warlord at a welcoming ceremony. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 18 Sep 2026 11:42 AM MYT

SEOUL, Sept 18 — South Korea’s Olympic committee said today it filed a complaint with Asian Games organisers in Nagoya for featuring a Japanese warlord at a welcoming ceremony.

The event on Tuesday included a person dressed as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who led Japan’s invasions of Korea in 1592-1598, and the ceremony prompted a backlash in South Korea.

Historical issues are sensitive between South Korea and Japan, with Hideyoshi’s invasion a significant episode in Korean history and Korea later under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Three Japanese warlord characters were present for the arrival of a cruise ship in Nagoya that will serve as a floating hotel for thousands of Games athletes.

Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) president Ryu Seung-min sent a letter to the local organising committee and the Olympic Council of Asia “expressing regret and calling for measures to prevent a recurrence”, a KSOC spokeswoman told AFP.

“As of this morning we have not received a response,” she added.

AFP has contacted organisers for comment.

Seoul-Tokyo ties have often been strained over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

During that period about 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour, according to Seoul data, a figure that does not include women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. — AFP