Twin brothers collaborated to cheat the army when one posed as his conscripted brother, local Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday.
Shen Ming-chin (沈明進) and Shen Huang-hsiang (沈煌翔), 23, from Chiayi County, are described as identical, except for a small difference in their accents and Ming-chin’s inability to fully raise his left arm because of a childhood injury, the reports said.
Ming-chin wanted to join the army but failed the physical examination, while Huang-hsiang hated military service but was conscripted, as are all Taiwanese men unless they are rejected for medical reasons.
Last September, Huang-hsiang joined the army. But in January, after completing his scheduled leave, Huang-hsiang remained at home while the unemployed Ming-chin went to his brother’s barracks posing as Huang-hsiang.
The officers and soldiers sensed there was something strange about “Huang-hsiang,” but could not figure out what it was.
This went on for four months. Because Huang-hsiang had already deserted the army once, army counselors talked to him regularly to make sure he did not flee again. This made Ming-chin fear that the army had cottoned on to his ruse.
In January, Huang-hsiang and Ming-chin traded places again. But his long absence meant that Huang-hsiang’s behavior aroused the suspicion of an officer, who went to the Shens’ home to investigate and learned of his twin brother.
On Tuesday, Shen Ming-chin was charged with document forgery and Shen Huang-hsiang with desertion, the reports said. Shen Huang-hsiang faces a court-martial, but military prosecutors suggested giving Shen Ming-chin a suspended sentence because he has no criminal record.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a