President of food company kills self over bad dumplings
2004-06-14 | 6:17 p.m.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The head of a food company jumped to his death after a government investigation found that his company sold dumplings made with rotten ingredients, police said Monday.

A witness said he saw the man jump from a bridge in Seoul's Han River on Sunday, a police official said.

Police have yet to find the body but found his identification card and a recently written will.

He was identified in media reports only by his family name, Shin -- the head of Vision Food, a dumpling company.

Last week, South Korea's Food and Drug Administration announced that at least 12 companies had been using rotten radishes in their frozen dumplings and ordered the dumplings pulled off the shelves.

The government has confiscated 20 tons of what the local press dubbed "garbage dumplings."

In his will, Shin said that he faced economic difficulties with creditors following the dumpling scandal, the Yonhap news agency said. He wrote his dumplings were harmless to people.

No illness have been reported from the dumplings. But department stores have said that dumpling sales have dropped by up to 90 percent.

back to top