Severed leg found at recycling center likely medical waste: police

INCHEON, June 18 (Yonhap) -- Police said Thursday that a severed human leg found at a public recycling facility in Incheon last week may have been medical waste.

The Incheon Yeonsu Police Station has been investigating the origin of the body part, which was discovered during a sorting process at the recycling center in the city west of Seoul on June 10.

A hospital in Incheon has notified the police that it may have disposed of the body part, according to police officials.

Investigators have requested an emergency DNA analysis by the National Forensic Service (NFS) to confirm whether the body part belonged to a patient at the hospital, they said.

Since its discovery, a task force of 102 police officers has been tracking the route of its disposal, operating on an initial NFS assessment that the limb belonged to an adult between 161 and 165 centimeters tall.

"We plan to cross-reference the DNA profile of the recovered body part with those of patients," a police official said.

This file photo shows a public recycling facility in Incheon, west of Seoul, where a human leg was found during a sorting process on June 10, 2026. (Yonhap)