Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that he would not press charges against talk show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) in line with his values of “tolerance and love,” hours after his campaign team said it would sue Cheng and several others for spreading false information about Han.
The campaign team at noon said that there have been false accusations against Han, including one of alleged vote-buying and another about a plot to assassinate him.
The team said it would collect evidence and press charges against those responsible for alleged extortion and contravention of election laws.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Han arrived at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office at 3pm, but told reporters outside that he was hesitant about pressing charges.
“I have been thinking... I have been advocating tolerance and love, and pressing charges seems to contradict those values. So I have been very conflicted,” he said.
Instead of entering the office, Han began taking questions from reporters.
He and his family members have been deeply hurt by the rumors and mudslinging, including aclaim that he was a “vegetable worm” — implying that he feeds off of others — and a gangster, Han said, adding that he was upset over Cheng’s accusation that he would sell the city out if he became mayor.
Rumors that China Unification Promotion Party founder Chang An-lo (張安樂) would become deputy mayor and that the People’s Republic of China flag would be flown in Kaohsiung are also false, he said.
Despite Han saying that he would not sue Cheng, Kaohsiung Chief Prosecutor Ko Kung-hui (葛光輝) said that prosecutors would investigate the matter, regardless of whether Han presses charges.
Prosecutors have obtained information about the cases and would not tolerate any attempt to mar the elections, Ko said.
Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that he hopes his and Han’s supporters would remain calm throughout the elections.
He also supports tolerance and love, and that was why he hugged Han after a mayoral debate on Monday, he added.
Asked about reported threats on his life, Chen said that threats and bullying on the Internet are common, and that his campaign team would determine whether they were serious, adding that if not, he would “laugh them off.”
He urged his supporters to stay rational and refrain from overly emotional behavior.
Additional reporting by Huang Liang-chieh and Huang Chien-hua
‘DISAPPOINTED’: It is time to change the nation’s name to ‘Taiwan,’ as there is solid support for Taipei in Washington, independence advocates said at a protest Taiwan independence advocates at a rally in Taipei yesterday demanded that the government take action to assert national sovereignty and engage in international diplomacy by using the name “Taiwan.” Led by Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵), members of pro-independence groups gathered outside the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in the wake of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s remark last week that “Taiwan has not been a part of China.” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the DPP government must seize this opportunity to change the nation’s name to “Taiwan,” discard the “Republic of China”(ROC) title and establish diplomatic
A Taichung-based saxophone teacher was yesterday sentenced to 18 years in jail, for baiting girls to send him nude photographs and videos of themselves. The Taichung District Court found Ku Cheng-en (顧承恩), 32, guilty of contravening the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), in 48 cases, involving 32 girls aged below 16. Prosecutors said that it began investigating the case after a girl in January last year filed a complaint against Ku, who is also a licensed street musician, suspecting that he might own pornographic material of underaged girls. Searching his premises, police found explicit photos and videos of 48 girls
The chief mechanic in an air force unit from which an F-16 and its pilot went missing last week died on Sunday evening in what might have been a suicide, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The ministry in a statement confirmed media reports that the mechanic, surnamed Huang (黃), “hurt himself” at a military barracks. Huang was taken to Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital after he was found unresponsive in the barracks, but doctors could not revive him, the ministry said. Huang served in the 26th Tactical Fighter Group of the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing, the same unit as the missing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) last night said that it had no comment about reports that a senior US Navy officer had arrived in Taipei for a visit. Several media outlets reported that Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, director of intelligence of the US Indo-Pacific Command, arrived at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) on a special charter flight at about 7pm. The schedule of a “senior US official” in Taiwan would not be made public, the ministry said in a news release, without confirming the visit or the official’s identity. Interactions and exchanges between Taiwan and the US are common, and visits
RSS