World Digest: China Closes Smelter After 1,300 Children Are Sickened

CHINA

Smelter Closed As Children Fall Ill

China has closed down a manganese smelter in the southern province of Hunan after more than 1,300 children living near it were found to suffer from lead poisoning, state media said Thursday, in the third metal contamination scandal in less than a month.

Authorities closed the Jinglian smelter in the town of Wenping and detained two executives after 1,354 children were found to have excessive lead in their blood, the New China News Agency reported.

The case has reminded parents of the government's apparent inability to protect their children from health hazards just a year after six babies died after drinking melamine-tainted milk powder.

The discovery of widespread melamine contamination in the milk supply that sickened more than 300,000 people last year shocked consumers and damaged the reputation of Chinese-made goods overseas. Many countries seized or banned imports of Chinese dairy products.

State media said the testing and subsequent measures against the smelter came only after protests by parents since the beginning of the month. Jinglian started operations in May.

The case follows the diagnosis of lead poisoning in more than 600 children living near a lead and zinc smelter in the northern province of Shaanxi and the closure of a chemical plant in another Hunan town this month after children around that factory fell ill from heavy metal poisoning.

-- By Kathrin Hille

NORTH KOREA

Mourners Sent to Seoul

North Korea said Thursday that it will send a high-ranking delegation to the South to mourn former president Kim Dae-jung, in the latest sign of easing tensions with the outside world. Kim, 85, died Tuesday.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Il had approved the two-day visit, which will start Friday and be headed by close aide Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party. It will be the first high-level visit to the South by North Korean officials in almost two years.

Kim Jong Il earlier sent a message of condolence to the former president's family, praising his efforts to reunite the two Koreas.