The official Web site of the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) was hacked yesterday, one day after the union posted a controversial article accusing Taiwanese gold medal hopeful Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) of cheating in a taekwondo match at the Asian Games in China.
The hacker left messages on the site saying “we all Taiwanese,” “shame on you,” and demanding that the ATU “give our gold medal back.”
There was also a digitally created- image showing a middle finger pointing upward between the national flags of the People’s Republic of China and South Korea, amid accusations that China and South Korea were behind the decision to disqualify Yang.
In an apparent attempt to show the “truth” behind the controversy, in which Yang was disqualified over sensors in her footwear, the hacker also uploaded a video showing Yang removing two sensors before the start of the fight on Wednesday.
The ATU released a statement on its Web site on Thursday accusing Yang of a “shocking act of deception,” and saying that she had attached two extra sensors to her footwear to increase her chances of winning.
Yang has insisted the sensors were within the rules and that she had no intention of manipulating or cheating in the match.
The ATU Web site’s homepage yesterday bore a message in Korean saying it was temporarily down -“because of excessive traffic,” while an ATU official said: “Our Web site remains paralyzed today for unknown reasons.”
Asked to comment on the ATU’s statement, World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) secretary-general Yang Jin-suk said at a press conference in Guangzhou yesterday that he could not speak for the ATU because it is a separate organization from the WTF.
However, the South Korean official said it was “inappropriate” for the ATU to issue such a statement.
He also expressed disapproval of the Web hacking incident.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”