A woman who accidentally threw away a box containing 20 million won ($17,600) retrieved the cash after 10 hours of ruckus in South Jeolla Province, according to local media Tuesday.
KBS TV news reported that the woman, in her 50s, had withdrawn the money to buy threads for her cotton gloves business. She hid the cash in a nondescript paper box only to absentmindedly throw it out along with the trash on Sunday.
(SBS News capture)
After belatedly realizing what she had done, the woman ran back to the garbage dump, but waste collectors had already cleaned the area.
Six police officers from Goheung County were dispatched to aid the woman in the quest to find her money.
The troop tracked down the waste collection truck and found the box containing fat wads of 50,000-won bills in a paper recycling plant.
The police attributed the collective efforts of the recycling plant workers and local neighbors to leading to the money’s discovery between stacks of paper waste at the plant.
