Lin Kou-enn (林國演) yesterday resigned as director-general of the National Conscription Agency (NCA) over an altercation with a military base guard, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said.
The agency, which is part of the Ministry of the Interior, is in charge of supervising alternative military service conscripts.
A netizen on Sunday wrote on social media that Lin had misbehaved while on Friday trying to enter Taichung’s Chenggong Ling (成功嶺) military base, where alternative military service conscripts are trained, to attend an event with conscripts.
After his car was stopped at the gates, Lin and his chauffeur allegedly had an altercation with a guard, during which his chauffeur reportedly called the guard a “dog” and told him to “eat shit.”
Lin’s vehicle was stopped by the guard who asked to see official identification, which is standard procedure to be followed before granting access to a military facility regardless of an officer’s rank.
He allegedly refused to comply and yelled at the guard, only reluctantly honoring the request after a company of military guards came forward to stop the car.
Lin later said he had never before been stopped when entering the base and blamed his driver for arguing with the guard.
The driver has since been replaced.
The incident sparked a public outcry, with calls for Lin to step down over alleged abuse of power and for “scapegoating” his driver.
The resignation has been approved, Yeh told reporters on the sidelines of a session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, adding that Lin is to serve as an adviser to the ministry instead.
Yeh’s comments came two days after he said that he did not think Lin needed to resign over the incident.
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) yesterday said that he respected Lin’s decision, but declined to comment.
Feng later this week is to honor the affected guard for stopping Lin’s vehicle in accordance with military rules, ministry spokesman Chen Chung-ji (陳中吉) said.
Additional reporting by Cheng Hung-ta
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS