A Father in His 40s Who Almost Went to Detention for Failing to Pay a 50,000 Won Fine... Police Officer Helped

Busan Sasang Officer Choi Han-hyeon, Lends Money to Pay Fine

A heartwarming story has recently come to light about a police officer who readily lent money to a man in his 40s, the head of a household, who was on the verge of being sent to a detention center for failing to pay a fine.

According to the Sasang Police Station in Busan on the 8th, last month, a man in his 40s, Mr. A, who was working as a delivery courier near Sasang Station in Sasang-gu, was caught by the police for riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. At the time, he was wearing a regular hat instead of a helmet because he was charging his rechargeable helmet.

When the police checked Mr. A’s identity at the scene, they found that he was wanted for failing to pay a 50,000 won fine for a previous violation of the Road Traffic Act. If he did not pay the 50,000 won immediately, he would have been arrested on the spot and detained in a holding cell.

Busan Sasang Police Station
Photo by Yonhap News

Officer Choi Han-hyun (47), a traffic officer at Sasang Police Station who witnessed the scene, advised Mr. A to pay the fine. However, Mr. A explained his difficult situation. He said he was raising young children alone and was literally "living day to day, earning just enough to get by."

Officer Choi recalled the dilemma at the time, saying, "If Mr. A went to the detention center because he didn’t have 50,000 won right away, his family would have gone hungry. But we couldn’t just let a wanted person for a fine go free, so I was in a tough spot." Ultimately, Officer Choi decided to lend Mr. A 50,000 won from his own money. Mr. A was able to pay the fine using the money transferred to his account by Officer Choi.

Officer Choi confirmed that Mr. A paid the fine at the scene, and Mr. A was able to return to work afterward. A few days later, Mr. A repaid the money he had borrowed from Officer Choi.

Officer Choi said, "I was deeply moved by Mr. A’s dedication to working hard for his family even under harsh conditions like the rain," adding, "There must be many people who struggle due to various circumstances such as losing their jobs, and we can help those people." He also said, "Not having 50,000 won is not a huge difficulty in life, and anyone who heard Mr. A’s situation would have readily lent the money in that situation," and added, "I will continue to work while looking out for my neighbors."

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