Tourists and Seoul residents cool off along Cheonggye Stream on the evening of July 12. Yonhap

Online outrage erupted after a man and woman were caught collecting coins that visitors had tossed into a “wishing stone” at Cheonggye Stream, prompting the Seoul Facilities Corp. to consider legal action.

A two-minute clip that circulated on X last Sunday shows a woman holding a parasol as she scoops coins from the bottom of Palseokdam along Cheonggye Stream. Moments later, a man joins her and begins picking up the coins.

Located near Cheonggye Plaza, Palseokdam is a stone structure built with rocks representing Korea’s eight traditional provinces to symbolize national harmony. It initially had no designated place for visitors to throw coins, but a “wishing stone” was installed in 2008 to allow residents and tourists to toss in coins while wishing for good fortune.

Since then, the site has since come to be known as “Seoul’s Trevi Fountain,” after the landmark fountain in Rome, Italy.

A man and woman collect coins without authorization near Palseokdam at Seoul’s Cheonggye Plaza in a video posted on X, Sunday. The coins had been tossed by visitors wishing for good luck. Captured from X

In the widely shared clip, the man and woman are first seen picking up coins that missed the wishing stone and landed nearby. They then inch closer and begin collecting coins that had fallen around its perimeter. At one point, the woman points toward the inside of the structure while speaking to the man, suggesting that the two know each other.

The behavior takes on greater weight because the coins tossed at the wishing stone are used for public causes. The Seoul Facilities Corp. collects, washes and sorts the coins, donating Korean currency to the Korea Student Aid Foundation and foreign currency to UNICEF. The donations are used to support children’s education, with a total of 440 million won (around $300,000) donated to date.

Online users were outraged that the pair had taken money intended for public causes.

“Those coins carry the meaning of both wishes and donations. Taking them is not something anyone should do in a public place,” one user wrote. Others called for the pair to be prosecuted for theft.

After learning of the incident, the Seoul Facilities Corp. said it would pursue legal action.

“We will ask the police to determine whether taking coins that had fallen on the floor of Cheonggye Stream constitutes theft or misappropriation of lost property,” a corporation official said.

The corporation also plans to install a surveillance camera providing 24-hour coverage of the site and post a notice sternly warning visitors against taking the coins without authorization.

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