Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je recently held a press conference, claiming that the book The Slaughter, maneuvered by Falun Gong organizations behind the scenes, gave false interpretations of human organ deals in China, and that there was too much exaggeration in the book, with facts only accounting for thirty percent.  

According to a report released on the website of the China Times (English version) on October 28, the press conference held by Ko Wen-je in Taipei on the morning of October 28 was a response to his alleged involvement in organ trades with the Mainland, as outlined in the book The Slaughter, which was cooked up by the Falun Gong in the name of an American writer Ethan Gutmann. During the press conference Ko Wen-je said, “I am not the one described in the book. The book gave wrong interpretations in many places.” He added that there was too much exaggeration in the book with facts only accounting for thirty percent.    

On October 27, Ko’s campaign office issued a statement claiming, “Dr. Ko Wen-je had not conducted organ transplants in the National Taiwan University Hospital ’s (NTUH) Department of Traumatology. He was just responsible for overseeing post-transplant care at the hospital.” The statement also said, “What the writer wrote in the book is very different from what the doctor said in the interview”, and “Doctor Ko Wen-je has asked his lawyer to issue an official letter, requiring the writer to correct the book”.   

In an attempt to discredit the Chinese government, the Falun Gong fabricated an astonishing rumor in 2006 claiming that the Chinese government supported harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. To deceive more people, Falun Gong spread the rumor to western countries with the help of a few foreign agents. Ethan Gutmann was one of them. Ethan Gutmann released his new book The Slaughter in August of this year. He said in the book that nothing is more convincing as evidence for the crime of live organ harvesting than what Doctor Ko Wen-je said in an interview.   

Falun Gong’s allegations have aroused doubts amongst medical practitioners, who regarded the allegations as too ridiculous. For instance, Falun Gong claimed that a cerebral surgeon in Sujiatun Hospital in Shenyang removed 2,000 corneas from Falun Gong practitioners within two years. It apparently does not conform to medical common sense that a cerebral surgeon could conduct surgeries on corneas.