The Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday that a male officer had an extramarital affair with a married female officer
The male officer, identified as Lieutenant Colonel Hsiang Cheng-hsi (
Ministry spokesman Major General Huang Sui-sheng (黃穗生) said prosecutors are investigating Hsiang's alleged criminal offenses and that the ministry has no intention of playing down the matter.
Huang confirmed the scandal at a press conference yesterday while responding to inquiries over the reported extramarital relationship between Hsiang and the female officer, identified only by her surname, Chiu.
The forced retirement came after the reserve command established in September that Hsiang had been involved in the alleged affair.
The reserve command started investigating the case last June after Hsiang mailed anonymous letters containing nude photos of a woman to different branches of the command.
The woman in the photos was identified as Major Chiu, also with the command, whose husband is a military officer.
Further investigation indicated that Hsiang was the person who mailed the photos and that he was attempting to force Chiu to continue their relationship by making the photos public.
At yesterday's press conference, reserve command spokesman Wu Yu-chiang (吳煜強) said Hsiang has settled out of court with Chiu over the distribution of the photos.
"According to the law, it should be Chiu who presses charges against Hsiang over the nude photos. Now that the two sides have settled the matter in private, we are not in a position to take any further action," Wu said.
Investigators also found that Chiu was an accomplice in the affair as she developed the extramarital relationship with Hsiang two years ago.
Chiu has been punished for the affair, Huang said, declining to reveal what the punishment was.
Hsiang and Chiu developed the relationship two years ago when they worked in the same office, investigators found. The pair rented a house in downtown Taipei as a rendezvous point.
The affair was not exposed until last May, when Chiu asked to terminate the relationship. Hsiang, however, wanted to continue the affair.
An official with the reserve command said Chiu was also at fault for developing and maintaining the relationship.
The nude photos of Chiu did not indicate that she was forced to be the subject of the pictures.
"Under the circumstances, we cannot put all the blame on Hsiang. He has been forced to retire early without getting any retirement pension. It is already a severe punishment," the official said.
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