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
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