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Defense ministry apologizes for furor over search case

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/07 11:50:26

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense issued a public apology Monday over the controversy caused by military police's visit to a civilian's home in connection with an alleged online sale of classified government documents.

Along with the apology, the ministry also made a six-point statement on the controversy, which stemmed from an online post on March 5 that accused military police of searching a man's home without a warrant.

Posting under the username 'spicy chao tien pepper,' the person said she was the man's daughter and that their home had been searched a few days before the anniversary of the 228 Incident because her father possessed some documents related to the White Terror rule of the Kuomintang.

The documents were seized and her father was taken away for questioning, the poster said.

Responding to a flood of criticisms and debates that erupted in the wake of the post, the defense ministry on Monday urged the public to discuss the matter rationally and objectively.

It said it will ask the Control Yuan, which functions as an ombudsman and government watchdog, to investigate whether the defense ministry's Security Division or the Taipei Military Police had made any administrative mistakes.

Prosecutors have also been asked to investigate the matter and unearth the truth, the ministry said.

It said there is a difference between having a document as part of a personal collection and putting it up for public auction. Selling classified documents from the government's archives could jeopardize national security and contravene the law, the ministry said.

Classified documents should be placed in the care of the relevant government units or the police, the defense ministry said, adding that online auction of such documents is inappropriate.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) has asked the relevant personnel at its Security Division and at the Taipei Military Police Station to hold a press conference Monday to explain their handling of the matter, the ministry said.

It said the press conference will be recorded and posted on YouTube and the Facebook page of its spokesman.

(By Lee Ming-chung and Elizabeth Hsu)
ENDITEM/pc