![A quiet scene at the Southern Metropolitan Recycling Resource Center in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on Thursday. A severed leg was discovered at the facility on Wednesday afternoon. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/12/rcv.YNA.20260611.PYH2026061120370006500_P1.jpg)
Police are working to identify a partial human remain found at a public recycling facility in Incheon, amid growing suspicion that the victim may be a student or a woman. Investigators have sent urgent cooperation requests to schools across the city as the case draws wider attention.
According to the Incheon Yeonsu Police Station, workers at the Southern Metropolitan Recycling Resource Center in Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu discovered a human leg on Wednesday at around 2:28 p.m. The limb — the left leg from below the knee to the heel — measured more than 40 centimeters in length, with a foot size of 210 to 220 millimeters. It was reportedly wrapped entirely in bandages.
Police conducted a full inspection of all recyclable materials collected at the center that day but found no additional body parts.
Investigators have assembled a task force of 64 officers. Based on the leg's length and foot size, police believe the victim may be a woman or a young student, and are focusing their efforts on establishing an identity.
The National Forensic Service earlier told police in a preliminary verbal assessment that the victim's age and sex could not be determined; a detailed forensic examination is now underway. Identification is complicated by the fact that legs, unlike fingers, carry no registered biometric data such as fingerprints.
Police have sent official cooperation requests to all elementary, middle and high schools in Incheon asking them to check for students with prolonged absences, and are also reviewing recent missing-persons reports. So far, no leads pointing to the victim's identity have been secured.
Education authorities are also on alert. The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education sent a circular Friday morning to district education offices and schools urging them to "take every precaution in managing students with unauthorized absences," along with a management manual. No unusual cases have been identified among students with unauthorized absences so far.
Police are also canvassing collection routes and vehicles to determine where the body part was discarded. Investigators have identified the vehicles that delivered waste to the center on the day the leg was found.
According to the center, vehicles made a total of 34 deliveries of recyclable materials that day — 20 from Yeonsu-gu and 14 from Jung-gu, including Yeongjongdo. However, accounts from collection workers have been inconsistent, and investigators expect the specific collection areas to be confirmed as the probe advances.
The discovery has drawn comparisons to an unsolved case involving dismembered remains found along the Gyeongin Ara Waterway in Incheon. Body parts were discovered at two separate locations along the waterway in May and July 2020. Police checked on the whereabouts of between 400,000 and 500,000 people nationwide — including missing persons, individuals who had not returned home, and victims of dating and domestic violence — without solving the case. Investigators released a facial reconstruction image, a dental panoramic scan of the skull, and details including the victim's estimated age, height and blood type, but received no meaningful tips.
paq@heraldcorp.com
