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.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS