The athletics competition at the 1990 Asian Games was held at the National Olympic Sports Centre in Beijing, China from 27 September to 3 October.
Some English-language sources, such as GBR Athletics, erroneously state that South Korea's Kim Bok-joo was the winner of the men's 800 m and the 1500 m silver medallist. Contemporary English and Korean sources indicate it was his similarly-named teammate Kim Bong-yoo who achieved these feats.