By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter


Wads of U.S. bills worth a total of $7,000 were found on the pedestrian walkway of Incheon International Airport on Wednesday. But nobody has as yet come forward to claim the money.

It was 8:10 am on Wednesday when Lee Nam-sik, 43, an official of Korean Air, found the money lying in the open on the narrow street just outside the airport building. What Lee found was a total of $7,024, including 40 one-hundred-dollar bills.

``I assume a travel agent happened to drop the money while he or she was in a hurry as the amount is quite large,’’ said Lee. ``However, as individual travelers are allowed to carry up to $10,000, we can’t exclude the possibility of an individual passenger,’’ he added.

Lee immediately reported his find to the main information desk of the airport and also contacted several travel agencies, asking if anyone had lost the cash, but was unable to locate the owner.

After spending an hour waiting for someone to claim the cash, officials of the information desk carried the money to the lost and found department of the airport at 9:30 am.

The cash has been proved to be genuine, not counterfeit.

``The cash is the largest amount of money reported to us since the opening of the airport in March 2001,’’ Kwon Hyeok-sil, the director of the lost and found department, said.

She added anyone claming to be the owner of the cash will be questioned by police officers, instead of airport authorities, as to the details in order to determine whether the person is the true owner of the cash.

The airport will keep the money for about two months, after which it will send the bills to the Inchon Police Department.

If no one claims the money for around 10 months, the money will go to the state treasury.

things@koreatimes.co.kr