Olympics Opening Ceremony Footage Leaked, China Angered

BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) - A South Korean TV station's broadcast of a secret dress rehearsal for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony has inflamed Chinese Internet users, but the network said on Thursday it had taken the footage legitimately.
The broadcast is certain to irk Games organisers who had reportedly made performers sign confidentiality agreements not to divulge details of the Aug. 8 ceremony, directed by Oscar-nominated director Zhang Yimou.

"We went, and nobody stopped us. So we just shot," a staff reporter at the private SBS network sports desk said in Seoul. The network, one of three official rights holders for the Games, aired just over a minute of video of next week's ceremony rehearsal, including scenes depicting the past and future of Chinese culture and the unrolling of a huge scroll from which rises a carpet-like object.

SBS did not show the lighting of the Olympic torch at the National Stadium where the rehearsal was taking place, but it reported that a golden phoenix was expected to swoop down into the stadium, dubbed the Bird's Nest, for the climactic event.
A spokesman for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games said on Thursday he was "disappointed" by SBS's move, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"We are disappointed they did that, but the fragments cannot give the audience a full picture of the opening ceremony," Sun Weide was quoted as saying. "Let's wait for the wonderful performances when the Games open on Aug. 8."

Chinese Internet users accused the channel of effectively breaking state secrecy laws by showing the footage. "How could such a network be so unprofessional? They are no better than paparazzi!" fumed one comment posted on popular Chinese web portal Tianya (www.tianya.cn). "Resolutely boycott Korean goods!" said another. But other Internet users called for calm and said the TV station should not be blamed for a lapse in security that allowed them to film.

"We should look for the reason within the measures and system to guarantee the opening ceremony's secrecy. Blaming others doesn't solve anything," a commentary posted on web portal Sina.com said.