Taipei prosecutors yesterday summoned former Hsinchu Bureau of Cultural Affairs chief Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) to attend a hearing with prosecutors this afternoon at the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.
"Chu has been requested to attend the hearing as a plaintiff," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), the spokesman of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office. "Tuesday's meeting between Chu and prosecutors will focus on questions surrounding her charges against Scoop Weekly (獨家報導)."
Last month Scoop distributed a VCD which purported to show Chu having sex with a married man.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Chu has refused to confirm or deny that she was the woman in the VCD, even when interviewed by TV host Hu Chung-hsing (胡忠信) last week.
On Dec. 31, the 36-year-old former politician, formally filed libel charges against 19 people. Among those charged are employees of the tabloid-style magazine, including its president, Shen Yeh (沈野), and its publisher, Shen Jung (沈嶸) as well as Chung-ti Technology, the company which produced the VCD.
Chu's recent public comments have, however, helped the investigations into the scandal and her charges against the magazine, Chen said.
"Before she decided to face everybody," he said, "prosecutors had to worry about her safety and privacy when they interviewed her or contacted her for questions because we didn't want to hurt her again. We cannot ignore her during the investigation, however, since she is at the center of the scandal. It has been difficult to strike the right balance. Since she has become mentally stronger, however, and willing to face the world, prosecutors' jobs have become a lot easier."
A source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Taipei Chief Prosecutor Lin Jinn-tsun (
Neither Chu's office nor that of her lawyer was receiving telephone calls yesterday.
Lin told the Taipei Times: "We handed the summons to her lawyer but I cannot tell you which prosecutor issued the summons, which room in the building the hearing will be held in or whether Chu has received the summons or not."
When asked last week if she was the woman in the video, Chu said: "It's very possible that it's me. It really did look like me. But I am not sure whether the VCD is a fake or not. What I can say is that the hidden camera was not installed by me. Nor did I arrange for it to be installed."
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS