President's house converted into miners' museum to open in October

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) old family house in New Taipei has been turned into a miners' museum and will be open to the public for free from October, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced on Tuesday.

The property in Wanli District, as well as the nearby Liukeng coal mine and its office ruins, will form a cultural park aimed at educating the public about the country's mining history, the DPP announced in a press conference.

Reservations will be required and up to 20 people each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will be able to visit, according to the DPP.

In addition to a photo exhibition documenting miners' lives, visitors will also have access to guided tours and oral history activities, the party said.

In a Facebook post later on Tuesday, Lai encouraged the public to visit the site, which he believed would "foster mutual understanding and help unify Taiwan."

The property was at the center of controversy during Lai's campaign leading up to the presidential election on Jan. 13 this year.

Both the opposition Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party have accused Lai's family of illegally expanding the property and claimed the building should have been torn down by the New Taipei City government years ago.

In response, Lai said his old family house is one of hundreds of renovated miners' housing units built decades ago in New Taipei, where there used to be several mining districts.

However, over the years the mining companies closed down and many of the original small housing units were purchased and gradually renovated into larger structures for safety reasons, according to Lai.

These housing units predate the current Regional Planning Act, passed in 1981, which prohibits unauthorized expansion, Lai argued.

Despite believing that his family house does not violate regulations, Lai said he was apologetic that it became an issue during the presidential race and jeopardized the rights of residents living in similar units.

To commemorate the contributions made by miners to Taiwan's economic growth in the past century, Lai pledged in late 2023 that he would transfer the rights of the Wanli property to a charitable trust and prioritize turning it into a miners' museum.