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
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS