Blog 11_The Taekwondo Incident at the Asian Games

I'm sure everyone in Taiwan is aware of the taekwondo incident that happened at the Asian games around 6 days ago. Taiwanese competitor Yang Shu-Chun was suddenly disqualified when she was leading by 9-0, because her socks had extra electronic sensors. The judge who halted the match was a Filipino of Korean decent and the technician who found the sensors was Korean. At the sudden announcement of her disqualification, the Taiwanese people are greatly angered because we had a shot at winning the gold medal for the under 49kg (108lb) division. Since then, the Taiwanese people have burnt South Korean flags, smashed South Korean products like Samsung products and instant noodles, boycotting South Korean goods, and have even thrown eggs at a South Korean school in Taipei. Countless Facebook events have been created and many Youtube videos have been posted in support of the anti-Korean movement.

The reaction of the Taiwanese people surprised me. I did not imagine us to be so aggressive and nationalistic. Mr.Meneses, in class yesterday, pointed out that most Asian countries are nationalistic, in particular China, Japan and South Korea, perhaps due to our past. When something against the entire nation happens, the people unite and turn against their common enemy. This is no different from the United States, whereas when 911 happened, the entire nation turned against the terrorists. In some ways this nationalism can be good, but it can be disastrous as well. It can ignite conflict, which eventually leads to war.

Having joined one of the Facebook events, I understand how the rest of the Taiwanese population feel. However, some of our actions are not justified. Even if the judge was Korean, it does not mean that the entire Korean nation should take blame. It is like accusing an entire school of crazy violent lunatics when only one of them is. Surely we can express our anger and discontent, but we should not go so far that hostility between the two nations build up. Replacing the red and blue ying yang on the South Korean flag with dung is simply demeaning and unacceptable.