North Korean coach rebukes medal-winning weightlifters despite Asian Games golds
Members of the North Korean national weightlifting team, who swept 10 medals, including seven golds, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, were publicly reprimanded inside the venue by a top-ranking delegation official and submitted apparent written self-criticisms. Some athletes stood at attention and wept. Experts presumed the incident to be an ideological review session examining the athletes'…
In a shocking incident at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, top-ranking North Korean officials publicly scolded and berated medal-winning weightlifters, despite the athletes' remarkable victories. The delegation reportedly demanded written self-criticisms from the athletes, who included gold medalists Ri Song-gum, Song Kuk-hyang, and Kang Hyon-gyong.
Some of the weightlifters were seen weeping openly as they stood at attention during the disciplinary session, which took place around 12:20 p.m. on Monday inside a secluded area of the Nagoya Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Center in Nagoya, Japan. Experts are outraged by the incident, viewing it as an ideological review session aimed at examining the athletes' ideology and behavior.
They argue that North Korea's control methods, even at an international sporting event, constitute a clear human rights violation.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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