The Taiwan High Court yesterday insisted that The Journalist magazine must apologize to Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) for a story it published in November 2000.
The court dismissed The Journalist's appeal against an earlier ruling in Lu's civil lawsuit against it, although the magazine will be allowed to file a final appeal to the Supreme Court.
"Basically, the Journalist did not submit any new evidence to persuade the court that there was a reason to overturn the previous verdict. So we decided to uphold the previous court decision and rule against the magazine," said Hsu Cheng-shun (
"If necessary, the defendants are allowed to file another appeal, which will be final, within 20 days after they receive my verdict," Hsu said.
Neither Lu nor the defendants attended the delivery of yesterday's verdict.
Wellington Koo (
"They [the defendants] did not submit any surprising or new evidence during previous hearings, so they did not persuade judges to overturn the result," Koo said.
Hsu yesterday ruled that the defendants, seven employees of The Journalist, have to run one-day front-page advertisements in four major Chinese-language newspapers to make up for the damage done to Lu's reputation.
Lu sued the magazine over a story that claimed she had called its editor-in-chief to spread a rumor that President Chen Shui-bian (
The magazine alleged that Lu spread the rumor in order to unseat Chen.
Lu filed her suit on Dec. 21, 2000, demanding a formal apology from the magazine.
On April 10, 2002, the Taipei District Court found the defendants not guilty of criminal libel. However, judges ruled that the story had damaged Lu's reputation, which is a civil offence, and ordered the seven defendants to "clarify and admit" their mistake by publishing a statement to that effect on the front pages of the nation's 32 newspapers, as well as broadcasting it on radio and TV for three days.
The cost of such clarifications has been estimated at NT$180 million.
On Dec. 13, 2002, the High Court upheld the verdict on appeal, but reduced the punishment to run one-day front-page advertisements in four major Chinese-language newspapers. The court also dismissed Lu's request that the defendants broadcast a clarification on radio and TV for three days, which would cost about NT$3.86 million.
On April 29 this year, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict concerning criminal libel, and the defendants decided to file a second appeal against Lu's civil claim.
The magazine yesterday said that it would not make any decision about whether to file its final appeal to the Supreme Court until it has received Hsu's verdict.
The defendants are the magazine's president Wang Chien-chuang (
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to