Severed leg discovered in Incheon recycling center from amputation, not crime
Police say a leg found at an Incheon recycling center likely came from a hospital amputation, raising questions about illegal surgery and medical waste disposal.
The recycling center in Yeonsu District in Incheon, where a human leg was found among discarded waste, is seen in a photo taken on June 11.
YONHAP
A human leg found at a recycling center in Incheon last week is most likely a surgically amputated limb — possibly even illegally amputated — rather than the remains of a crime victim. The conclusion marks a sharp reversal in an investigation that had been treated as a possible homicide.
A nursing hospital in Incheon's Jung District told police Thursday that a patient's amputated leg had been "mistakenly thrown out with recyclables rather than handled as medical waste."
Genetic testing reportedly matched the limb to a patient still being treated at the hospital. If the account holds, a case that drew a 102-officer task force and cadaver dogs becomes a question of illegal medical practice and the improper disposal of medical waste.
"We cannot confirm further details regarding the National Forensic Services' analysis," a police official said.
If the leg was discarded as the hospital described, the hospital could face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won ($19,500) under the Wastes Control Act.
Police are also examining how the amputation itself was carried out. The hospital has no operating room, and investigators are looking into whether performing an amputation there violated the Medical Service Act. Its medical staff consists of a neurosurgeon, a surgeon and two doctors of Korean medicine.
"We've explained everything to the police," a hospital source said. "Since this is under investigation, we can't share the details."
The leg turned up on June 10, when a worker sorting recyclables at a center in Songdo, in Incheon's Yeonsu District, found it around 2:28 p.m. It measured about 41 centimeters (16 inches) from below the knee to the heel and was wrapped in bloodied bandages.
Police treated the discovery as a likely crime, possibly a killing, and formed a task force led by the chief of the Incheon Yeonsu Police Precinct. Investigators deployed 102 officers and pored over CCTV footage and dashcam video from recycling trucks. They also brought in cadaver dogs in case other body parts had been dumped at the site.
Early on, the small size of the foot, just 210 millimeters (8.3 inches), led investigators to suspect the leg might belong to a woman or a student, and they checked schools across Incheon for students with unexplained or extended absences. None matched. A forensic examination then estimated that the leg belonged to an adult roughly 161 to 165 centimeters (5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 5 inches) tall, and the student theory was set aside. With no leads emerging, police widened their DNA search beyond Incheon to missing persons across neighboring Gyeonggi.
The turn came when the nursing hospital came forward. To check its account of the story, police collected DNA from the patient and sent it to the National Forensic Service for comparison with tissue from the leg.
BY BYUN MIN-CHUL [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
