Police investigating allegations that auto battery maker DN Automotive gave workers injections to flush lead from their bodies while describing them as vitamin shots have summoned a company executive for questioning.
The Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency questioned a DN Automotive executive, identified only as A, on the 13th over the allegations, according to police on the 14th.
DN Automotive is suspected of administering chelation injections, which flush heavy metals out of the body through urine, to prevent workers from registering high blood lead levels during special health examinations. Workers were told the injections were vitamin shots.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor concluded that the practice obstructed a government measure designed to accurately assess workers' health and in August referred the case to the Ulsan police on charges of obstruction of business.
Police said they could not disclose details of the questioning or the scope of the investigation.
The controversy surfaced in February, when the Ulsan branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union and other groups held a news conference. The union said production workers were being exposed to lead on the job and that the company had them receive chelation injections, which carry a risk of side effects, to influence the results of the special health examinations.
Separately from the police referral, the labor ministry conducted an intensive inspection of DN Automotive in March and April. It found 68 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, booked and referred the related cases to prosecutors, and imposed fines of 46.2 million won.
President Lee Jae-myung called the allegations "an intolerable and grave human rights violation" on the 12th and ordered a thorough response.
As the controversy spread, DN Automotive issued a statement the same day saying it regretted that its principle of putting employee safety and health first had not been carried out.
