Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
1 billion won in two boxes shrouded in mystery
By Kim Rahn
Who left the two mysterious boxes of 1 billion won ($899,000) in cash at a warehouse? Is it a slush fund or gangster money?
On Wednesday at 9 a.m., police received a report that there were two boxes suspected of being explosives at a storage warehouse on the 10th floor of Yeouido Department Store in Seoul.
Some 20 police officers went to the scene and evacuated workers and customers. At around 10:40 a.m., an explosive disposal squad arrived to check the boxes.
As they cautiously opened one of the boxes, uncovered were not explosives but 20 sheaves of 10 million won. In another box were 32 bundles of 25 million won, with the cash totaling 1 billion won.
According to the police, the manager of the storage facility had contacted the people who had stored possessions there during the past month as the owner is to move to another region soon. But the owner of the boxes, which were very heavy, could not be located and he thought they might be dangerous items and so reported his suspicion to the police.
The manager said a man in his late 20s or early 30s placed the boxes there on Aug. 25 last year. The man gave his name as well as his resident registration number and two cell phone numbers, paying some 2 million won in cash for one-year storage fees.
But police found the resident registration number didn’t exist, one of the cell phones was suspended from use, and the other phone was turned off. Police have asked the mobile carrier to submit background information about the phone subscriber.
The management of the storehouse will deposit the money with a bank until Aug. 24 2011 when the one-year contract ends.
If the owner doesn’t claim the stored possessions three months after the contract period, they are discarded, according to the storage company’s terms and conditions.
“We don’t know yet who left the boxes and how he got the money. But it smells fishy that a person would hide such a large sum of money at a storage facility with a fake resident registration number,” an officer at Yeongdeungpo Police said, adding they suspect the money was created amassed illegal activities or was a slush fund.
By Kim Rahn
10억 현금 상자 미스터리
수요일 오전 9시, 경찰은 폭발물로 의심되는 상자 두 개가 여의도백화점 10층 물류창고에 보관되어 있다는 신고를 받았다.
폭발물 처리반이 도착해 조심스레 상자를 열자, 그 속에서는 폭발물 대신 1000만원 묶음 20개와 2500만원 묶음 32개, 총 10억원의 현금이 나왔다.
경찰에 따르면, 물류창고 매니저는 창고 이사를 앞두고 지난 한달 동안 물건을 맡긴 사람들에게 연락을 해왔다. 그러나 그 무거운 상자 주인은 연락이 되지 않았고, 매니저는 위험한 물건일지도 모른다는 생각에 경찰에 신고를 했다.
매니저는 20대 후반에서 30대 초반의 남자가 작년 8월 25일 상자들을 가져왔고, 주민등록번호와 전화번호 2개, 그리고 1년 보관료 200만원을 내고 갔다고 진술했다. 그러나 경찰 조사 결과 그 주민등록번호는 없는 번호였고, 전화번호 하나는 사용중지, 다른 하나는 전화기가 꺼져 있었다.
경찰 관계자는“누가 상자를 맡겼는지, 돈의 출처가 어디인지는 아직 모른다. 그러나 이런 거액을 가짜 연락처와 함께 물류창고에 맡겼다는 점에서 수상한 점이 있다”고 말했다.