South Korea makes Asian Games complaint over Japan warlord ceremony

South Korea’s Olympic committee mentioned on Friday (September 18, 2026) it filed a criticism with Asian Video games organisers in Nagoya for that includes a Japanese warlord at a welcoming ceremony.

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

Historic points are delicate between South Korea and Japan, with Hideyoshi’s invasion a big episode in Korean historical past and Korea later below Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Three Japanese warlord characters have been current for the arrival of a cruise ship in Nagoya that may function a floating resort for 1000’s of Video games athletes.

Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) president Ryu Seung-min despatched a letter to the native organising committee and the Olympic Council of Asia “expressing remorse and calling for measures to stop a recurrence”, a KSOC spokeswoman instructed AFP.

“As of this morning we’ve not acquired a response,” she added.

AFP has contacted organisers for remark.

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

Throughout that interval, about 780,000 Koreans have been conscripted into compelled labour, in response to Seoul information, a determine that doesn’t embody ladies compelled into sexual slavery by the Japanese navy.