South Korea makes Asian Games complaint over Japan warlord ceremony

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The event 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. File | Photo Credit: PTI

South Korea's Olympic committee said on Friday (September 18, 2026) 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.

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.

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