Former lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) yesterday purchased half-page newspaper ads in which he apologized to PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) for assaulting the woman in the legislature last year.
"I apologize to Legislator Lee, her family and society for my mistaken behavior," Lo said in the ad, which was published in the United Daily News and the China Times yesterday.
The gangster-politician assaulted Lee during a meeting of the legislature's Education and Culture Committee on March 28 last year.
Lo was filmed on closed circuit television slapping Lee in the face.
Lee had intimated that Lo had attempted to interfere in the selection process of board members for the Jin Wen Institute of Technology, whose former chairman Chang Wan-li (
Lo pulled Lee by the hair during the meeting after Lee suggested that he was a gangster.
The former lawmaker has been detained on fraud, breach of trust and usury charges since April 10.
KMT Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (
Lee, who had filed a lawsuit against Lo over the attack, said yesterday that she would drop the case. "I feel comforted by receiving an apology such as this," Lee said.
According to Lee, Lo's sons have recently been talking to her attorney, Lee Fu-tien (李復甸), in order to settle the matter. The two parties reached a consensus Monday.
In the Taipei District Court's second hearing on the suit on March 8, attorneys for both parties agreed to seek a private, out-of-court settlement.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,