China's aid sought in 'lead crab' case

The Inchon District Prosecutor's Office has decided to ask for Chinese authorities' cooperation in an investigation into the sensational "lead crab" incident. The decision followed the realization that there is a high possibility lead scraps might have been inserted into the blue crabs while they were frozen in China, before they were shipped for Korea, a spokesman said Monday.

A prosecutor said that each of 495 boxes of blue crabs, which have been kept in five cold storage houses in the Incheon area August 23-27, was found to have at least one blue crab filled with lead pellets. He said the lead-filled crabs were carefully hidden at the bottom of each box, and this indicates that the processors might be directly or indirectly involved in the illegal practice. He also said that an on-the-spot investigation is inevitable to determine who had the lead scraps inserted into the crabs or who directly put them into the marine products. The prosecutor's office will soon send an investigator to China and an official letter asking for the Chinese side's cooperation, he added.

Park Joung-Gu jangkung@donga.com