Taipei, July 22 (CNA) A suspicious package that had been sent from Taiwan to a South Korean care home was found to have originated in China, the Taipei Mission in Korea said Friday.
Based on information provided by Taiwan’s Customs Administration, the package was confirmed to have been sent from China and transshipped to South Korea by Taiwan’s state-run postal service Chunghwa Post Co., according to a statement released by the mission.
The Taipei mission said it will continue to work with South Korean authorities on the matter and share the results of the probe with the police and relevant agencies in the country.
The incident first came to light after three Ulsan care home staffers who opened the package on Thursday began experiencing dizziness and difficulty breathing, and they were subsequently hospitalized for treatment.
The package has since been handed over to South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development for further examination.
According to Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), the package had been sent by surface mail from China, then sorted through Chunghwa Post’s freight forwarding center during a stopover in Taiwan.
Without entering customs, it was later transshipped directly to South Korea via air mail, the CIB added.
In a Yonhap News Agency report Saturday, South Korean police have called for vigilance against suspicious international parcels, saying that the color of such packages could be yellow or black, and they could have “Chunghwa Post” written on them. The sender could be P.O. Box 100561-003777, Taipei Taiwan, the report said.
Lin Li-fu (林立富), deputy chief of Chunghwa Post’s Department of Mail Business & Operations, said on Saturday that the company has provided relevant information to South Korean authorities after it was informed of the matter.
Lin said the Chunghwa postal service has temporarily suspended transshipping packages destined for South Korea from freight forwarders, pending a police investigation.
Due to China’s insufficient postal capacity, international packages from that country often go through Taiwan before being forwarded to their final destination, according to Chunghwa Post.
