Police have launched an investigation after 14.5 billion won ($13.4 million) disappeared from the foreigners-only Landing Casino on Jeju Island.

Hong Kong-based Landing International Development, which owns the casino, reportedly discovered the cash was missing on Monday and informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The casino staffer who was in charge of the money is unreachable after failing to return from a year-end vacation without giving notice, a casino employee who wished to remain anonymous told The Korea Herald.

Landing reported the theft to police and they acquired CCTV footage from the Jeju Shinhwa World resort, where the casino is located, media reports said.

The missing money is in South Korean currency, the reports said. If it consists entirely of 50,000-won bills, the highest denomination, there would be 291,200 bills. Given that each bill weighs just under 1 gram, the stolen funds must weigh at least 280 kilograms -- about the same as a full-grown Siberian tiger.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)