Kye, who scored 1 yuko, fell to Boenisch, who scored 1 yuko and koka, and will have to return to North Korea with the silver medal. The North Korean team claims, however, that this was because of biased officiating by Japanese referee Endo Sumio.

Kye and Boenisch were given shido penalties at the same time 18 seconds into the match. Park Hak-yong, head of the North Korean Judo Association, said, "Referees usually hand out a shido penalty to a judoka who maintains a passive stance for more the 25 seconds. That guideline was severely applied early on."

When Kye was trailing her opponent by a koku with about a minute left in the match, she tried to attack five times, but Boenisch took a noticeably passive posture. The referee did not hand down a shido penalty as he had done earlier in the match, however.

Complaining that his athlete had been victimized, he said, "Foreign reporters and foreign team coaches who had been referees unanimously raised suspicions about the officiating."

About this, the South Korean judo world believes the North Korean claims are reasonable. Because they cannot overturn the decision, however, the North Koreans will just have to stew about it.

(englishnews@chosun.com )