"Xylophone Distributed with Lead Levels Exceeding Standard by 1242 Times"…Recall Ordered for 36 Products

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] On the 20th, the government issued recall orders for 36 children’s products, including school supplies and electric kickboards.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy conducted a focused investigation on a total of 19 items and 592 products with sharply increased spring demand, such as student supplies and children’s clothing, during January and February in preparation for the new school term.

As a result, 36 products were found to have violated legal safety standards, including harmful chemicals and product durability. The institute issued recall orders to the businesses responsible for these products.

Additionally, although 101 products met safety standards, they violated mandatory labeling requirements such as the KC mark and manufacturing date, and were recommended for improvement measures.

The products subject to recall orders include 9 school supplies, 11 children’s bags, 3 indoor shoes, 3 children’s clothing items, 2 electric kickboards, 2 roller sports protective gear, 2 children’s shoes, 1 portable laser product, and 1 children’s jump rope.

Among the school supplies, a xylophone (Silverstar (business name), Silverstar Xylophone (model name)) exceeded the lead standard by up to 1,242 times in the metal-coated parts. There was also a children’s bag (Geohwa INC, KTB-SA01P00) with cubic decorations exceeding the lead standard by 10 times.

For indoor shoes, three products were detected with phthalate plasticizer levels exceeding the standard by up to 356 times in surface decorations (Hoho Korea, 11-88 Coco Multipurpose Shoes). Two electric kickboards were found to have unauthorized parts changes, such as batteries different from those certified under KC standards.

To block the sale of the 36 recalled products, the National Institute of Technology and Standards disclosed product information on the Product Safety Information Center and the Happy Dream website, and registered them on the OECD Global Recall Portal as part of international product safety cooperation.

The institute urged, "If unrecovered recalled products are found, please report them to the People’s Petition or the Korea Product Safety Management Institute (02-1833-4010). Consumers using recalled products should receive repair, exchange, or refund measures from manufacturers, importers, or sellers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.