Serbian TV pundit calls Hwang In-beom 'Kim Jong-un' during live broadcast

Serbian football pundit Nenad Jestrovic appeared to refer to Red Star Belgrade’s South Korean midfielder Hwang In-beom using the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during live UEFA Champions League coverage on Serbia’s Arena Sport on Tuesday.

Red Star Belgrade's Hwang In-beom, right, vies for the ball with Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko during a Group G UEFA Champions League match at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Serbian football pundit Nenad Jestrovic appeared to refer to Red Star Belgrade’s South Korean midfielder Hwang In-beom using the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during live UEFA Champions League coverage on Serbia’s Arena Sport on Tuesday.

In a clip shared on social media, Jestrovic, a former Red Star Belgrade and Serbia and Montenegro forward, seems to struggle to remember Hwang’s name and says “Kim Jong-un” instead. A different presenter on the show appears to then correct him.

According to some reports, the clip is being treated as a funny gaffe in Serbia — one post on X, formerly Twitter, seen by the Korea JoongAng Daily refers to it as a “small gaffe” with a laughing face.

Association with Kim Jong-un, North Korea and communism is viewed as derogatory toward South Koreans in light of the 1950-53 Korean War ending in armistice and the two sides being technically still at war.

Racism is a chronic problem in Serbian football, with the Serbian Football Association repeatedly punished in recent years due to the behavior of the national team’s fans at international fixtures.

There are repeated accusations of racism in the domestic league, where some fan groups have been accused of having ties to nationalist and fascist organizations.

The Serbian FA has been fined over 140,000 euros ($150,000) for fan misconduct over the last two national team matches, and UEFA has forced Serbia to play behind closed doors during the international break next week, again due to fan misconduct.

Hwang joined Red Star Belgrade in September this year after pushing to leave Greek club Olympiacos, where he had ended up after his contract with Rubin Kazan was cut short by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Despite reported interest from Rangers, Inter Milan, Napoli, Frankfurt and Monchengladbach, Olympiacos refused to release Hwang until the very end of the transfer window.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]