The Asian games ended last Saturday, September 2nd. First place was taken by China and Japan, and Korea followed China. China has always gotten a lot of medals, so it’s not so surprising. However what is shocking is that Japan got much more gold medals than Korea. Korean had taken second place in the Asian Games for 24 years, so many people were careless about checking the incredible growth of Japan. Even the Korean Olympic Committee expected 65 gold medals, but in this Asian Games, Korea got only 49 gold medals which were a lot less than the 65 medals of Japan. It was a fruit of the Japanese government’s steady investment. Because of such a result, many people are questioning the strength and competitiveness of Korean athletes. Though the result wasn’t as good as we expected, there were some profits, too. Korean found some promising young athletes in medal-unproductive events for Korea. Also, a very promising soccer player, Son Heung-Min got exemption from military service by winning a gold medal. He is already playing in the European team, but he couldn’t get gold medals because of repetitive misfortunes. There were some people who even said he would go to the military instead of Son Heung-min.

Korean baseball team won the gold medal in the Asian Games, but some people are blaming some players on the team. People say, “Some players are considering the Asian Games as a way to be exempted from military service.” Such accusations appeared because some players on the Korean baseball team delayed their enlistment for as long as possible waiting for the Asian Games. Korea has won baseball events in the Asian Games for 12 years, so it’s almost certain that the Korean baseball team will win the Asian Games. Also, many people pointed out the fact that popular artists can’t get the exemption from military service. An example of this problem is the Korean idol, BTS became the first Korean artists who ranked first place in the Billboard chart twice. Ranking first place in Billboard chart is as great as Winning a gold medal in Olympic or Asian Games. Some people are saying that the government should check the fairness of the exemption and extend the targets of the exemption. Others are claiming the abolition of the exemption so that complaints like these never come up again. In response to these complaints, Minister Manpower Administration of Korea showed will to amend the system.

In the soccer event of the Asian Games, Vietnam showed unbelievable growth. Their new football manager was inaugurated as football manager of Vietnam team last year. The Soccer team of Vietnam was weak so they had never entered the World Cup or Asian Games’ quarterfinals. However, in this Asian Games, Vietnam’s soccer team went to the semi-finals. The manager who made Vietnam Soccer team as the fourth best soccer team of Asian soccer teams is Korean and his name is Park Hang-seo. Many people are saying that the growth of the soccer team of Vietnam is the miracle. Vietnam Football Federation said that they were willing to extend the contract between him and the Vietnam soccer team. Park Hang-seo said in the interview, “I got much love from Vietnamese by some big soccer events and I’ll do my best to repay for the love. Our team has worked hard and we’ll continue to work hard. I’ll try to help the soccer team of Vietnam grow up.” Many Koreans are also cheering for him, congratulating him, and proud of him as he is a citizen of Korea.

2018.09.05 Jang Hoyeon