YANTAI, CHINA -- Nintendo today issued a statement reiterating its commitment to international standards for employment at its subcontractors but did not indicate any specific failures by Foxconn.

Foxconn, which is in the crosshairs of NGO labor rights groups, admitted this week to employing interns as young as 14 years old at its factory here.

China law prohibits employing workers under the age of 16.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua said up to 56 underage workers were found in Foxconn’s internship program.

In response, Nintendo issued a statement, saying an investigation is underway and insisting its guidelines for supplier practices be followed. The statement did not, however, specify whether Nintendo believes Foxconn broke any contracts or whether the world's largest EMS company would be held financially or otherwise responsible for the latest black eye: “In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008. We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. ”

The timing couldn't be worse for Nintendo, which is scheduled to release the Wii U game console soon.

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