Plot to poison soft drink bottles has claimed victim

Gwangju resident is gravely ill after drinking tainted beverage

A 25-year-old is fighting for life after drinking a poisoned Coca-Cola. The victim, identified his surname Lee and living in the city of Gwangju, southwest Korea, is a clerk at a furniture store. At around 8:00 p.m. on July 9, Lee drank from a plastic Coca-Cola bottle, which had been left by a customer at Lee’s mother’s restaurant near Gwangju.

At the time of the accident, Lee had three sips of the drink and said to his brother, “The taste is strange. Why is the color green?” As of around 9:20 p.m., the brother posted a message on the Coca-Cola Korea website, and by 10:00 p.m. an employee of Coca-Cola was at their house to retrieve the bottle. After 40 minutes passed, two employees of Coca-Cola visited Lee’s home and said that there seemed to be "some kind of muddy water in the bottle."

However, Coca-Cola Korea contacted the family noon the next day, after the National Institute of Scientific Investigation confirmed the Coca-Cola bottle had been poisoned. As of 2:52 p.m. on July 10, Lee was taken to South Jolla University Hospital. He has since been transferred to Suncheonghyang University Hospital.

Hong Se-yong, professor of the Suncheonghyang University, said, “Treatment was delayed, as the victim arrived 24 hours after being poisoned. We are pessimistic about the situation, as the victim’s lung functions are worsening."

A 40-year-old female, identified by her surname, Park, has been arrested in connection with the case. She injected an industrial herbicide, Gramoxone, into Coca-Cola bottles in Gwangju, demanding 2 billion won (2.1 million USD) from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Medical experts say that if a person ingests 5 cc of Gramoxone, it would be lethal enough to kill about 95 percent of those exposed.

Between July 1 and July 9, Park had threatened Coca-Cola Korea on 74 separate occasions, by posting messages on the company’s web site or by sending mobile phone messages to the company’s customer centers, saying that she would poison the products if payment was not made.

Coca-Cola Korea has been accused of belatedly coping with the matter, by only recalling its products being sold in areas Park had threatened to poison. The victim of the tainted beverage, however, was not spared by this plan, as he consumed the Coca-Cola outside of the area Park had threatened to poison.