Taiwanese actor Kai Ko (柯震東) bowed and apologized to the public yesterday after being released in Beijing following a 14-day detention there for alleged marijuana use.
“I made mistakes. No reason, no excuse. I was wrong,” Ko told a Beijing news conference during which he burst into tears.
A sobbing Ko said his “foolish behavior” has put great pressure on his family and set a bad example for his fans, and now he must correct his mistakes because he does not want to disappoint the people who love him.
Photo: China News Service, via CNA
He also urged people not to imitate his illegal behavior and promised to never break the law again.
The 23-year-old, who won Taiwan’s Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer in 2011 for his role in the blockbuster You are the Apple of My Eye (那些年，我們ㄧ起追的女孩), was arrested in Beijing on Aug. 14 for allegedly smoking marijuana.
Jaycee Chan (房祖名), son of martial arts superstar Jackie Chan (成龍), was also arrested at the time.
Chinese police had previously released a video showing Ko making an apology to the public while he was still in detention, in which he also cried.
Soon after Ko’s release yesterday, Beijing police said on their official Sina microblog that he was freed upon the expiration of a 14-day period of administrative detention.
During his detention, Ko showed “deep regret” over the alleged act and promised that he would “never touch drugs again,” the police said.
Ko was scheduled to arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 11:40pm yesterday.
Huang Mou-hsin (黃謀信), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, said the prosecutor handling the case has requested assistance from the Chinese authorities and has asked that they preserve the evidence that they have collected.
A senior prosecutor who spoke on condition of anonymity said Ko is not to be arrested upon his return home because he was not caught in the act of smoking marijuana.
Taipei police said that Ko would be met by officers who are to present him with a summons to report to prosecutors on Monday for questioning in relation to the case.
Besides resulting in a judicial probe, the incident might affect Ko’s acting career and his brand-endorsement contracts.
Over the past three years, Ko has signed endorsement deals with more than 20 brands, covering food, finance, fashion, cosmetics and cars, both in Taiwan and China. Nine of those contracts were signed this year.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS