South Korea demands answers on envoy's death
SEOUL -- A senior South Korean diplomat in Beijing died after eating a tuna sandwich last month, a death that has the envoy's family and his government asking China for an explanation.
The family of Whang Joung-il, 52, is worried about a government coverup at a time when China is in the throes of a crisis over tainted products.
Whang, who was the number two diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing, suffered severe stomach pains and vomiting after eating the sandwich from a nearby eatery on the night of July 28. He checked himself into Beijing's Vista Clinic the next morning and died two hours later.
China's government immediately got involved. It carried out an autopsy the following day to determine the cause of death, but no results have been disclosed.
The family said China's Health Ministry informed the South Korean Embassy in Beijing on Aug. 5 that it had reached a tentative conclusion that Whang died of "acute myocardial infarction," a kind of heart attack.
Earlier this month, the South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned a top Chinese diplomat in Seoul to ask for an explanation.
"We've asked China to give us an outcome that is fair, objective, and acceptable," a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on the condition of anonymity, citing the issue's sensitivity. China is expected to announce the results of the autopsy later this month, he said.
The family is also pressing to see the autopsy findings, calling it an unusually long delay considering the case involved a high-level diplomat.
The family is "deeply concerned that his death will be erased," Whang's son, Tae-ho, said in a statement yesterday.
China's Foreign Ministry declined to discuss Whang's case in detail.
"We are investigating it," said Kuang Min, an official with the spokesman's office.
South Korean media speculated that Beijing was trying to deflect blame for the death by suggesting Whang had chronic heart problems.
But Whang's family said he was healthy.
Beijing is already sensitive about criticism of Chinese products, which have been subject to bans and recalls in the United States and elsewhere.
