'Lifetime Savings' Found in Abandoned Bag... Owner is an Elderly Person with Dementia

Signed 50,000 Won Bill Worth 17.45 Million Found on Newspaper
Citizen Reports to Police, Owner Located
Police Award Certificate of Appreciation to Citizen

A citizen who discovered a large sum of cash in a bag discarded at a garbage dump reported it to the police, resulting in the money being returned to its owner. It was revealed that this bundle of cash was the entire savings of an elderly person with dementia who had unknowingly thrown it away.

According to the Asan Police Station in Chungnam on the 4th, a woman in her 50s, Park, found a bag discarded inside another garbage bag while throwing out trash at an apartment in Eupnae-dong, Asan City, around 3 p.m. on the 1st. When Park opened the bag, she found 17.45 million won in 50,000 won bills wrapped in newspaper. The crumpled newspaper wrapping had the words "Money saved over a lifetime" and dates written on it.

Newspaper wrapping a bundle of money discarded by a dementia patient. The words "Money saved for a lifetime" are visible.
[Photo by Asan Police Station, Chungnam, Yonhap News]

Seeing this, Park thought it must be someone’s precious money and immediately went to the police station to report the found item. After receiving the report, the police analyzed CCTV footage and were able to identify the person who had thrown away the garbage bag.

The owner of the money bundle was a man in his 70s living alone nearby, who was a basic livelihood security recipient with dementia symptoms. When the police visited his home to verify, he reportedly did not even realize that he had thrown away the money. The money he had put into the garbage bag was his entire savings, accumulated bit by bit from daily labor jobs and basic livelihood security payments when he was younger.

Fearing that the elderly man with dementia might lose the money again, the police searched for his immediate family and returned the money to his biological older sister. They also awarded a certificate of appreciation to citizen Park. At the certificate awarding ceremony, Lee Young-do, chief of the Asan Police Station, expressed gratitude for Park’s good deed in helping the owner who had lost his entire savings through her proactive response.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.