Anti-South Korea sentiment in Taiwan sparked by the controversial disqualification of Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) at the Asian Games has expanded from cyberspace and spread into the real world, as unidentified people threw eggs at the Taipei Korean School yesterday morning.
The egg-throwing incident was the latest of a series of anti-South Korea moves by angry Taiwanese, who have called for a boycott of South Korean goods, foods, TV programs and entertainers, including posts on the Facebook page of Cheongwadae — South Korea’s presidential office — which were later removed, with most users accusing the country of treating Yang unfairly.
The anti-South Korea sentiment rose to a fever pitch after the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) posted a press release on on its Web site on Thursday accusing Taiwan and Yang of committing a “shocking act of deception” inflamed the situation.
World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) secretary-general Yang Jin-suk of South Korea, who has given different explanations as to why Yang was disqualified, also earned the wrath of some Taiwanese.
To keep the uproar under control, the National Police Agency said it had tightened security for South Korea’s representative office in Taipei.
On Friday, the Korean Mission in Taipei issued a document to South Korean expatriates and associations in Taiwan urging them to be discreet in word and deed to ensure their safety in view of the anti-South Korean sentiment caused by the Yang incident.
A South Korean official with the Korean Mission in Taipei — South Korea’s representative office in the country in the absence of diplomatic ties — declined to elaborate on why the warning was necessary. There are about 3,000 South Koreans studying and working in Taiwan, according to the official, who declined to be named.
A South Korean surnamed Lee, who lives in Taipei City’s Wanhua District (萬華), said many of his compatriots are puzzled as to why Taiwanese are venting their anger over the Yang incident at South Koreans.
“Many Koreans in Taiwan can’t understand this,” Lee said, because Yang’s sensors were first called into question by ATU vice president Zhao Lei (趙磊), a Chinese national, and because judge Hong Sung Chon (洪性天) is a Philippine national, despite being of Korean descent.
Lee, formerly a director at the Taipei Korean School — the target of the egg-throwing incident — said he did not think it was a good way to express dissatisfaction with the ATU’s ruling against Yang.
“Neither was it a good example for children,” Lee said.
“Throwing eggs will only leave school children with the impression that they can also resort to this type of behavior to settle controversy,” Lee said.
Lee has lived in Taiwan for more than 20 years since his parents immigrated to Taiwan.
“I sympathized with Taiwanese on the disqualification verdict because I thought it was a controversial ruling. I don’t think that [the anti-Korean behavior] is irrational. It reflects the real feelings of Taiwanese people toward the matter,” Lee said in a phone interview with the Taipei Times.
Lee said he also hopes the controversy ends up with a “good result” and a “fair ruling” through the normal appeal channel.
“It was a pity that the matter degenerated into [anti-Korean sentiment],” Lee said.
At a separate setting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said Zhao was the central figure behind Yang’s controversial disqualification.
“Various evidence suggests the whole thing is a conspiracy by Zhao so that his student Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺) could win the gold medal,” Tsai alleged.
Yang, one of Taiwan’s top gold medal hopes at the Asian Games, was disqualified on Wednesday over allegations that she used extra sensors on her electronic socks.
Video of her bout revealed, -however, that the sensors were not attached to her socks during her battle with a Vietnamese opponent, in which Yang was leading 9-0 when the bout was halted, and followed by an abrupt announcement that Yang was disqualified.
The event was eventually won by Wu.
Pointing out that there were no South Korean players competing in the same category as Yang, Tsai said he suspected Hong accommodated Zhao’s scheme to curry favor with China.
“While there are many protests from Taiwanese venting their anger online at South Korea, Taiwanese should open their eyes wide, think through the cause-and-effect and realize that China is actually the one behind the whole incident,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged Taiwanese to express their opinions peacefully.
The ATU’s ruling had nothing to do with the South Korean government and its people, the ministry said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEN HUI-PING AND CNA
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