A pawnshop in Taoyuan intends to take 2010 Asian Games taekwondo gold medalist Wei Chen-yang (魏辰洋) to court over a financial dispute, claiming that Wei owes the shop NT$200,000, but could not be reached.
The pawnbroker said he met Wei in 2014 when Wei wanted to pawn a watch for NT$300,000, and he later wished to pawn his gold medal because of an urgent need for money.
“The medal was actually worthless,” the pawnbroker said, adding that he had taken the medal and watch only because Wei had represented Taiwan and won.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Wei later redeemed the items and has returned several times, the pawnbroker said.
The owner said he also agreed to the loan because Wei had been as good as his word.
Wei on April 11 last year came to the pawnshop to borrow NT$200,000, saying that this was the last time, as he had finally found a stable job, the owner said.
However, after paying interest on the loan for three months, Wei from July last year became unreachable, he added.
The pawnbroker said he had contacted Wei’s place of employment, National Caotun Commercial and Vocational High School, which allegedly said that Wei after a few weeks left his post as taekwondo coach.
However, the school said that it had employed Wei from August last year to January, after which he applied for a position at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營).
The center on Thursday confirmed that Wei had been accepted as a coach on a trial basis and had reported to the center on Thursday last week.
Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association deputy secretary-general Wei Jui-hsien (魏瑞賢), Wei Chen-yang’s father, said that the pawnshop had asked to see the medal after Wei Chen-yang was unable to make a payment, but did not return the medal afterward.
The pawnshop said that Wei Jui-hsien’s comments contradicted the promissory note Wei Chen-yang had signed, and it has already taken the issue to court.
Wei Jui-hsien said that the family is sincere in wishing to resolve the issue, but the pawnshop’s claims and the lawsuit have undermined his son’s work.
Additional reporting by Liao Lu-wei
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS