A man in South Korea has hit it big after finding wads of cash, amounting to US$130,000 (?110 million), taped underneath the fridge he recently bought to store his kimchi.
According to South Korean media outlet MBC News, the man bought the fridge online, used. So naturally, finding all that cash must've felt like insane bang-for-buck value.
Jokes aside, the man – a resident of Jeju Island – lodged a police report on August 6, 2021.
If he hadn't started cleaning his fridge, he probably would have never found the cash. MBC News reports that the cash was wrapped in plastic, taped directly underneath the fridge. They were all stacked in ?50,000 (US$42.80) banknotes, the highest denomination possible for the currency.
IMAGE: MBCNEWS / YouTube
"It was a large amount of money. It was absurd because we rarely had such cases," says a police officer handling the case.
Police are currently trying to trace the seller of the fridge, as well as the people involved with transporting it during delivery.
South Korea's Lost and Found Act states that if the rightful owner can't be traced, the person who discovered the 'lost' item gets to keep it. In this case, though, the man would have to pay 22 percent in tax. Still, not bad.
However, if authorities do manage to find the rightful owner of the cash, the man will still be rewarded compensation somewhere between five to 20 percent of the total value.
If the cash has links to crime, then no one gets to keep it. It'll be handed over to the state instead.
But is keeping cash in kimchi fridges an actual thing in South Korea?
According to a report by The Korea Times published in February 2016 – yes.
Damn, that's a lot of kimchi. IMAGE: Sangsuk Sylvia Kang / Atlas Obscura
At the time of publication, South Korea was experiencing record-low interest rates in banks. For the wealthy, leaving all their money in the bank wasn't such an enticing deal. Instead, they chose to store their cash in kimchi fridges, which are conveniently ideal for storing banknotes at the perfect temperature and humidity levels. The notes stay fresh and crisp for much longer.
A single kimchi fridge has enough capacity to store over US$895,200 (?1 billion) in cash.
"Rich people save their cash at home by putting it in a kimchi refrigerator as they expect little return from a bank due to low interest rates," said then Bank of Korea (BOK) director Jang Min.
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Cover image sourced from MBCNEWS / YouTube and u/haribobosses / Reddit.
