An employee displays gold bars at the Korea Gold Exchange in Jongno District, Seoul, March 28. Newsis

In a surprising turn of events, two gold bars worth approximately 21 million won ($15,000) have been recovered from a recycling bin at an apartment complex in Seocho District, Seoul.

The owner has since been identified after mistakenly discarding the precious items.

On June 27, two 100-gram gold bars were discovered inside a discarded CD player bag at the recycling area of Banpo Xi apartments, according to the residential management company, Worri Management.

The current domestic price of gold is 104,830 won per gram, valuing the lost gold bars at around 21 million won.

A notice about the lost gold bars is posted at Banpo Xi Apartments in Seocho District on June 28. Captured from social media

The incident gained public attention after a notice was shared on an online community.

Posted on June 28, the apartment's notice read, "A staff member found gold bars inside a CD player case at the recycling center. The owner is requested to contact the management office to reclaim their property."

Three days later, on July 1, a 70-year-old resident came forward.

He explained that while gathering recyclables at home, he inadvertently included the bag containing the gold bars.

He was unaware of the loss until he saw the notice.

The discovery also led to false claims from individuals pretending to be the owner.

An official from Woori Management said, "We didn't disclose the appearance of the gold bars or other details initially, which helped us verify the rightful owner through personal interviews and security camera footage."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.