Human leg found at Incheon recycling facility likely belongs to nursing hospital patient

Incheon Southern Regional Resource Recovery Center / Yonhap

A human body part found at a recycling facility in Incheon is highly likely to be the leg of a patient receiving treatment at a nursing hospital, police said Thursday.

"The body part found at the resource recovery center is highly likely to be the left leg of a patient at a nursing hospital in Incheon," the Incheon Yeonsu Police Station said, adding that it had requested an urgent DNA analysis from the National Forensic Service to compare genetic information.

Police said that if the DNA of the recovered body part matches that of the patient, they plan to investigate the hospital on suspicion of violating regulations governing the disposal of medical waste under the Waste Control Act.

At around 2:00 p.m. on June 10, an employee sorting recyclable materials at the Southern Regional Resource Recovery Center in Songdo-dong in Yeonsu District discovered part of a human left leg and reported it to police.

The body part was wrapped in bandages when it was found, and was partially decomposed.

Officials at the center said, "Mannequins occasionally arrive here, so we initially thought it was part of a mannequin, but we noticed bloodstains and reported it to police."

Police had been investigating the case based on a National Forensic Service assessment that the body part was likely the leg of an adult standing between 161 and 165 centimeters tall.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.