By Park Jae-hyuk

South Korean broadcasters' nationalistic, one-sided comments focusing on their own country's athletes are apparently making TV viewers uncomfortable.

Some South Korean Olympic fans are posting online complaints of TV broadcasters' "too patriotic" comments during the Olympic Games.

On Aug. 14, SBS announcer Jang Ye-won fought back her tears after Korean footballers lost 0-1 to Honduras in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She tried to continue her speech but kept stuttering, saying, "I feel sorry for the players who are going through such hard times. I apologize for my poor broadcast."

SBS posted the video clip online, where it drew a negative response from Korean internet users.

Some said they could sympathize with her patriotism as a Korean, while others said she was not being professional. A student surnamed Jeon said, "She overreacted and is unqualified as an announcer."

KBS football commentator Lee Young-pyo, on the contrary, criticized the Korean players in the same game. He said, "Korean footballers were responsible for the delay tactics of the Hondurans."

Many Koreans agreed with Lee's comments. An office worker surnamed Kim said: "I felt better when the commentator criticized our players' obvious faults."

An internet user, dtd, wrote, "Commentators should be neutral."

Still, some Koreans argue that biased broadcasts are more interesting to watch, because they feel the excitement when the commentators root for Korean athletes.

KBS fencing commentator Choi Byung-chul shouted in excitement at the moment of South Korean fencer Park Sang-young's victory in the men's individual epee on Aug. 10 and the video clip, posted online, was watched by more than 840,000 users.

Internet users wrote that Choi's comments were exciting as they could shout along with him at the moment.