Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Wang Ju-hsuan (王如玄), the vice presidential candidate of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), said Thursday that she will move out of a government dormitory as soon as she can amid criticism that she and her husband have profited from real estate deals.

Wang has been the target of a series of salvoes since she was named as the running mate of Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 18 for living in a government dormitory provided to her husband, Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄), head of the Judicial Yuan's Department of Government Ethics, even though they own their own house, as well as military housing units.

Saying that she is living in the dormitory legally, she added, however, that she knows society has a higher moral standard toward a vice presidential candidate.

"As a human rights lawyer, I judge things based on whether they are legal or not according to the law," Wang said.

"But social perception is important, and I'm willing to follow the higher moral standard and will move out of the dormitory in the shortest possible time," she said.

She said that her family has three houses under its name and added that she did not use her privilege while serving as Labor Minister (2008-2012) in the buying and selling of military housing units.

Wang said that she and her husband have worked hard over the past 30 years and that their assets, including four plots of land, seven houses, and deposits of NT$28.59 million (US$874.300), have been under the spotlight ever since she registered as the KMT vice presidential candidate with the Central Election Commission.

She said that she did engage in property investment during the time she worked as a lawyer, but insisted that all her transactions were legal.

She said KMT Chairman and presidential candidate Chu has shown consideration for the controversies in which she is embroiled.

Chu said Thursday that the Control Yuan, the nation's highest watchdog body, has probed Wang's purchase of military housing units and found them to be legal, with no "moral defects."

(By Lu Hsin-hui, Claudia Liu and Lilian Wu)
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