Actor Darren Wang accused of attempted murder

Cheng Wong

Taiwanese actor Darren Wang Talu was arrested for attempted murder after he allegedly hired men to violently assault a ride-hailing driver and a dispatch worker, according to Taiwanese media.

Wang was reportedly transferred to local prosecutors for investigation yesterday.

It is alleged that upon his earlier return to Taiwan, Wang was dissatisfied with the vehicle dispatched by the ride-hailing platform he hired.

He then reportedly hired individuals to violently assault both the driver and the dispatch worker, with sources indicating that the attacks were particularly brutal.

Wang's manager responded to Sing Tao Daily, a sister publication of The Standard, saying: "Thank you for your concern. Everything is under investigation."

Last month, Wang was arrested on suspicion of evading mandatory military service, with rumors that he intended to enroll as a student to avoid entering service.

He has also been accused of paying for fake medical documents, leading to a search and interrogation by the prosecution, which is still ongoing.

It is understood that officers from Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau visited Wang's residence last month. After explaining the purpose of their visit, police conducted a search of his home that lasted approximately one hour.

Since the case is still in the process of compiling interrogation records, the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office said it will provide further details at a later time.

Wang was sent to a military academy in New York in 2015 due to his lack of interest in studying and poor academic performance, which reportedly led to him crying from exhaustion.

After returning to Taiwan, he entered the entertainment industry and publicly stated that he had graduated only from Juang Jing Vocational High School.

However, it later surfaced that he had quietly enrolled at Toko University, initially studying in the Department of Communication and then repeating his first year in the Department of Performing Arts, spending two years as a freshman.

Despite this, some claimed they had never seen Wang attending classes, leading to public skepticism that he was using his studies as a means to evade military service.

At that time, his manager explained that the school preferred not to disclose information about his enrollment to avoid impacting other students, insisting that it was not a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth.

Wang himself remarked: "I'm still so young; why would I want to dodge military service? When the time comes, I will serve!"

His recent arrest for evading military service has ignited further public debate.

According to Taiwan's Act of Military Service System, a man aged 18 begins military service on January 1 of the proceeding year and is discharged on December 31 of the year he turns 36, called the Male's Service Age.