Successive mayors of Taipei have apologized for a local kindergarten molestation scandal. But there's not yet a roadmap for catching predators before they act in the future.
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00:00As the mayor of Taipei, I would like to apologize to the injured children and their families.
00:06Taipei Mayor Jiang Wan'an bows to families left traumatized by a child molestation scandal
00:11at a downtown kindergarten.
00:13Over the course of several years, the son of the owner, employed as a teacher at the
00:17school, touched and filmed over 20 children.
00:19An initial investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence.
00:23Now city officials face criticism they did too little, far too late.
00:27Taipei's previous mayor, Kou Wenzhe, is among those feeling the heat, as it was during his
00:31term that the cases began.
00:33When we investigate, we don't want to cause panic among the parents, or to cause a trial.
00:40But sometimes we have to protect the children, so we need to find a balance between the two.
00:47I think we still have a lot of room for improvement.
00:51There have also been concerns about media restrictions on revealing details of cases
00:54involving minors.
00:56These rules mean media outlets are afraid of blowing the whistle on scandals like this.
01:00The health minister has weighed in on this point.
01:03I think the law on the protection of the rights and interests of minors needs to protect the
01:12victims, not the perpetrators.
01:16The health minister says he'll convene academics and media representatives to discuss changes
01:21to the rules.
01:22But there's still no road map for catching predators early, and stopping scandals like
01:26this from happening.
01:28John Su and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.