Major travel agencies in Taiwan said yesterday that their South -Korea-related business is not being affected by public outrage over a major dispute involving South Korean sports officials.
“No one has canceled any booking for South Korea travel programs so far,” said Vincent Lin, vice president of the Taipei-based Lion Travel Service.
A source for Comfort Travel Service, another major local travel agency, also said that the dispute hasn’t had a negative impact on the company’s business so far.
There were calls for a boycott of South Korean products and TV programs after Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) was disqualified on Wednesday at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, when the chief referee, a South Korean national, said that she had extra sensors on her electronic socks, in violation of the rules.
Even though Yang’s electronic socks had been approved in a pre-match inspection, the judges decided that her electronic socks, used to register successful kicks, did not meet official requirements. She was then disqualified from the 49kg-division match with 12 seconds left in the first round.
Her treatment sparked -outrage in Taiwan toward South Korea as Yang Jin-suk, secretary-general of the World Taekwondo Federation, like the chief referee, is also from that country.
The controversy is the latest episode in a long-running feud between Taiwan and South Korea in international sports arena.
On the Internet, many Taiwanese called for a boycott of South Korean goods, including a popular pickle known as kimchi.
Several stores said they would no longer welcome South Korean customers, according to local media reports.
According to Lin, South Korea has become a popular tourist destination for Taiwanese people in the past two years, partly due to the increasing popularity of South Korea soap operas in Taiwan.
“For example, about 80 or 90 percent of local flights to South Korea have been booked all the way until December,” he said.
The number of Taiwanese tourists to South Korea grew 36.87 percent in September this year from a year earlier, new government figures show. The number rose 3.51 percent during the first nine months of this year compared with the same period of last year.
Lin said that the 3.51 percent growth is considered substantial because last year’s comparison baseline was high.
Lin thought that local people were “rather rational” about the dispute, but added that his company would not promote tour packages for South Korea in an active manner at a sensitive moment like this.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS