The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said an Air Force lieutenant who allegedly forwarded pictures of "Air Force One" to his girlfriend was being investigated.
"We have yet to decide how to punish him. However, we had to ground him temporarily because of his emotional state," said ministry Spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (吳季方).
Lieutenant Jen Jiunn-kang (任駿剛) was one of the four pilots who flew F-16s as an escort for "Air Force One" after it took off for the president's trip to Palau on Sunday.
Cameras are prohibited at military bases or during missions. Jen was authorized to carry a camera with him to take pictures of the mission as a record for his fleet.
Jen forwarded the pictures to his girlfriend and she posted the pictures on a blog mocking the president with captions that read: "It's so much trouble to send the devil away," and "It is like eagles seeing off a frog."
"Air Force One" was compared to a "big frog" after its bottom was repainted green in April.
When the blog was first discovered by the press and made public, the military began to investigate the case and the blog was closed down on Monday.
"Although [Jen] was authorized to carry a camera, what he did was controversial. It [his punishment] depends on how the investigators look at his behavior," Wu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁芳) said that the military was over-reacting.
"If the military wants to punish somebody, it should punish Jen's superior officer," Lin said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS