Civil Servant Searches Through 2 Tons of Trash Over "Lost Money" Complaint... Netizens Buzz

Civil Servant Retrieves Travel Expenses Over One Hour in Heatwave
Excessive vs Necessary...Netizens Debate Fiercely

On the 23rd, city hall employees are rummaging through a pile of trash in response to a citizen's complaint about accidentally throwing away travel expenses.
[Photo by Andong City]

A story has been shared about city hall employees who searched through a roughly 2-ton pile of garbage to find money after a citizen filed a complaint saying they had "accidentally thrown away travel expenses." This sparked a heated debate among netizens about whether it was appropriate to deploy public officials for this complaint.

According to Andong City in Gyeongbuk on the 25th, Kim Juwan, an official from the Resource Circulation Division of Andong City Hall, received a complaint call from a citizen, Mr. A, at 1 p.m. on the 23rd. Mr. A said, "I accidentally put $1,500 (about 2 million KRW) prepared for overseas expenses into a designated garbage bag and threw it away," asking for help. After realizing the mistake, Mr. A went to the site where he had discarded the garbage bag, but the garbage truck had already collected it.

Officer Kim contacted the cleaning company responsible for Mr. A’s area and confirmed that the garbage truck was still in operation. Then, together with environmental officer Jo Seokjae and 10 temporary workers, they searched through about 2 tons of garbage. After about an hour of work, the 12 of them found the designated garbage bag containing the travel expenses. Mr. A, who received the money on site, expressed his gratitude, saying, "I almost had to give up on my trip, so I am very thankful." Officer Kim said, "Anyone in the same situation would have naturally acted the same way," and added, "I am glad we could find Mr. A’s money."

Netizens who came across the story showed mixed reactions. Some criticized the deployment of 12 public officials in the heat to recover 2 million KRW lost due to a personal mistake, calling it excessive. They commented, "More resources were spent trying to recover 2 million KRW lost by an individual’s mistake, which doesn’t seem like a good precedent," "Public officials are not a courier service," "Were city hall employees neglecting their duties to search for that?" "Is it really something city hall staff should handle? Wouldn’t it be enough to just allow the person or their acquaintances to search on their own?" and "A typical waste of tax money."

On the other hand, some responded with appreciation, saying, "Thanks to the staff who worked hard under the scorching sun," "Isn’t this something they should do? What’s wrong with it?" "It’s nice to see a heartwarming story," "They must have been so happy to find the money," and "It’s reassuring to have public officials like that."

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