“They Said It Was a Vitamin Shot, but It Was a Lead-Removal Shot”… What the Company Did Before Special Health Checkups

1. Overview

A report in October 2026 sparked allegations that DN Automotive, a car battery manufacturer, had told workers at its Ulsan plant that they were receiving “vitamin shots” but had actually administered chelation injections to promote the removal of lead from their bodies. The central question is whether the company gave workers these injections just before special health examinations to prevent their lead levels from testing high.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) concluded that administering chelation injections before examinations had interfered with government measures to protect workers’ health. It referred the company to police for investigation on suspicion of obstruction of business, and the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency is currently investigating. The company denies the allegations. After the case came to light, the company’s stock price plunged, the MOEL’s delayed response came under fire at a parliamentary audit, and the issue grew into a public controversy after the president also criticized it publicly.

2. Allegations: Vitamin Shots and Blood Draws Before Examinations

At DN Automotive’s Ulsan plant, allegations emerged that the company had regularly given workers chelation injections—which cause heavy metals in the blood to be excreted in urine—while passing them off as vitamin shots ahead of special health examinations. Newsis reported that internal company documents were said to show that workers’ injection counts and health examination schedules had been tracked individually. MBC reported that workers had received chelation injections for more than a decade, believing them to be vitamin shots. Worker Cheon Jin-seong reportedly said that if a lead level exceeded 40, workers could expect to receive at least four injections.

Questions were also raised about how workers were selected for injections. According to MBC, in December 2024, a hospital bus arrived at the Ulsan plant early in the morning to draw employees’ blood. One worker testified that it was handled along the lines of, “They’d say, ‘Hey, go get your blood drawn now’” while they were working. Those found to have high lead levels would then receive chelation injections disguised as vitamin shots. The company reportedly explained in an email that the blood draws were intended to prevent workers from exceeding the lead limit at their regular examination two months later.

Of particular concern was that the provider conducting these off-site blood draws was also an institution that normally handled employees’ health examinations. MBC found that both hospitals that conducted blood tests in 2023 were also responsible for employees’ regular examinations. This raised a new question: whether the examination providers knew the purpose of the blood draws.

3. Company Denial and Plunging Stock Price

The allegations were reported on October 11. ChosunBiz wrote that they had come to light through “a media report the previous day.” Early the next day, October 12, DN Automotive’s stock fell as much as 18.80% from the previous trading day, to 39,950 won. ChosunBiz attributed the decline in investor sentiment to the combination of lead exposure concerns at the Ulsan plant and the allegations over chelation injections.

The company denies the allegations. It says it never described the chelation injections as “vitamin shots” and that treatment was provided at employees’ own discretion. It also says no causal link has been established between lead exposure and the health problems reported by some workers. Regardless of the company’s denial, however, authorities had already begun investigating.

4. MOEL Investigation and Referral for Police Investigation

After receiving a tip concerning the Ulsan plant in late January 2026, the MOEL began verifying the facts, conducting a safety and health inspection, and carrying out detailed workplace environment measurements. According to Newsis, an inspection conducted from March 23 to April 17 found 68 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, resulting in charges being filed and the cases being referred to prosecutors; fines totaling 46.2 million won were also imposed. ChosunBiz reported the fine amount as 46 million won. The lead-exposure process was ordered to halt operations from April 21 to May 7. The workplace environment measurement agency for the site was also found to have conducted inadequate measurements and was suspended from business for three months, from June 22 to September 21.

The MOEL concluded that administering chelation injections immediately before special health examinations had interfered with worker health-protection measures. On August 13, it referred the matter to police for investigation on suspicion of obstruction of business; this was disclosed in a press briefing document on October 12. ChosunBiz reported that police were investigating the company and the hospital on suspicion of obstruction of official duties and obstruction of business, respectively. The MOEL is also conducting targeted inspections and detailed workplace environment measurements at 14 other battery manufacturing sites in the same industry. On October 8, a committee titled the “DN Automotive Lead Exposure Investigation and Workplace Environment Improvement Committee” was launched, consisting of nine experts recommended by labor, management, and the government. On September 18, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency also convened an Epidemiological Investigation Review Committee and decided to conduct a group epidemiological study covering all workers, including former employees.

5. Chelation Injections and Reported Health Effects

Newsis reported that the substance used in the injections was said to be EDTA. When injected into a blood vessel, EDTA binds to heavy metals in the body, which are then excreted through the kidneys in urine. Jang Tae-won, vice president of the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, explained that the injections can cause a loss of essential minerals and calcium and may also be toxic to the kidneys, so they must be used cautiously. He added that chelation injections are not recommended for preventive use; they are recommended only when both conditions are met: the patient’s blood lead level is above a certain threshold and the patient is experiencing symptoms of lead poisoning.

Some employees who received the injections have reported adverse effects. These include frequent urination and fatigue, Bell’s palsy causing paralysis on one side of the face, kidney disease, and blood in the urine. President Lee Jae-myung strongly rebuked the incident, saying, “In the 21st century, are workers some kind of livestock? How can you deceive them and administer a drug to forcibly remove heavy metals?”

6. Controversy Over the MOEL’s Delayed Response

The MOEL faced criticism in the National Assembly for failing in its oversight. According to MBC, at a parliamentary forum on September 21, the director of the MOEL’s Occupational Health Policy Division said that the ministry had ordered temporary health examinations on July 22, but they had not been carried out because of “disagreements between labor and management.” MBC criticized the MOEL for openly blaming workers. At the parliamentary audit on October 16, Representative Kim Tae-seon questioned the ministry, saying that an inspector had told workers to “just clean it up” at a site where sulfuric acid was flowing back, and had even said, “No worker has collapsed because of the working conditions.”

The MOEL countered that it had handed all materials related to chelation to investigative authorities. The head of the Ulsan branch of the Busan Regional Office of Employment and Labor also said the branch was tracking the number of workers who had received injections. However, a response sent by the Ulsan branch earlier that month said 217 people had received injections over the previous five years—fewer than the minimum 295 confirmed by MBC. MBC pointed out that the actual figure could be several times higher, since some people had received as many as eight injections.

Reports also emerged that the MOEL had halted its investigation despite knowing the circumstances. A May document from the MOEL obtained by MBC stated that there were indications that a special health examination provider had conducted blood draws to “check figures for manipulation.” Nevertheless, the MOEL stopped investigating, saying it lacked authority, and did not refer the examination provider to police. At the parliamentary audit, Ryu Hyun-cheol, head of the Occupational Safety and Health Bureau, had answered that there was “nothing confirmed at this time” regarding whether the examination provider had prior knowledge. The document was therefore criticized as contradicting his answer.

7. Authenticity Debate

The central issue is whether DN Automotive tried to manipulate examination results by passing off chelation injections as vitamin shots, or whether the injections were treatment given at workers’ own discretion.

7.1. The injections were an organized effort to deceive workers

This side argues that the claim of “voluntary choice” does not match the circumstances. If the injections were a matter of individual choice, there would be no reason for internal company documents to track each worker’s injection count alongside examination schedules. Blood was drawn when a hospital bus arrived, with workers being told to “go get your blood drawn,” and one worker testified that anyone whose lead level exceeded 40 would receive at least four injections. This is said to indicate that the injections followed set criteria and procedures. The company’s email stating that the blood draws were intended to prevent workers from exceeding the limit at their regular examination two months later also fuels suspicion that the injections were aimed at the examination results.

The involvement of examination providers further supports these suspicions. The providers conducting off-site blood draws were the same institutions responsible for employees’ regular health examinations in both 2023 and 2024, and a May MOEL document referred to blood draws conducted to “check figures for manipulation.” This side argues that chelation is a treatment for patients who meet specific symptom and blood-level criteria, and that regular, repeated injections can only be seen as an effort to manage test results rather than as treatment. The MOEL’s count of 217 recipients, MBC’s confirmation of at least 295, and reports that some people received as many as eight injections make it difficult to view this as the accidental sum of individual choices. This side also points out that the MOEL itself judged the conduct to be interference and referred it for investigation.

7.2. The allegations are not established facts

The company says it never described the chelation injections as vitamin shots and that treatment was provided at employees’ own discretion. It also says no causal link has been established between lead exposure and the health problems reported by some workers.

The current situation leaves room for this argument. The obstruction-of-business allegation is at the stage where the MOEL has made a “determination” and referred the matter for investigation, and the police investigation is ongoing, so guilt or innocence has not been established. Nor is it known whether the examination provider knew the purpose of the blood draws, as the head of the MOEL’s bureau stated that there was “nothing confirmed.” Since the group epidemiological study and the labor-management-government committee have only just been launched, it is also possible to argue that it is too early to draw conclusions about the relationship between lead exposure and health problems. However, one examination provider stated that the company had asked it for advice on chelation injections in both 2021 and this year, and that it had replied that it “did not agree.” This makes it difficult to argue that the company was unaware of the nature of the injections.

Neither side’s claims have been established pending the results of the investigation and epidemiological study.

8. Trivia

• The word “chelation” comes from the Greek word chelos, meaning “claw.” The name refers to the treatment’s use of a claw-like grip to bind heavy metals and remove them from the body.
• Chelation injections are not officially approved, but some medical institutions are understood to prescribe them off-label to alleviate arteriosclerosis. This practice followed the publication of a study in 2013 reporting some effects, although no long-term studies are known.
• A YouTube video introduced Cheon Jin-seong, senior vice chair of the Metal Workers’ Union’s DN Automotive Ulsan chapter, as having appeared on MBC Radio’s Kim Jong-bae’s Focus (broadcast October 14).