A homeless South Korean unable to withdraw his life savings because he could not remember his real name has died in poverty, officials said last week.
The man, believed to be aged 56, died of cancer last month, leaving 128 million won (just over US$100,000) in a bank account that was opened in early 1993 under the alias of Na Hae-Dong.
The account was frozen several months later when a law took effect to ban accounts held under false names, as an anti-corruption measure.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Deposits were still allowed but the account holder had to register a real name to withdraw money, something “Na” could not do.
“He didn’t know what his real name was or where he was born. We tried but failed to identify him,” Yoo Joon-Soo, the senior official of Yongbong district in the southwestern city of Gwangju, told AFP by phone.
While the funds for a lavish lifestyle on easy street sat idle in the bank, he slept rough under a plastic sheet, collecting scrap iron and other junk before moving in 2007 into a makeshift shelter made from a shipping container.
PHOTO: AFP
Though he could not withdraw from the account, he kept putting in savings.
“He used to say he wanted to buy a home with his savings,” Yoo said.
“Last month, we applied for court approval to create his new ID and the court procedure was under way.”
A local court is expected to order that the savings revert to the state, he added.(AFP)
南韓官方上週表示，一名街友因記不得自己的真實姓名，以致無法領取存在銀行的畢生積蓄，貧病交迫而亡。
這名男子年約五十六歲，上個月因癌症過世，身後留下一筆一億兩千八百萬韓圜（約合十萬多美元）的存款；他一九九三年初用假名羅海東（音譯）開了這個銀行帳戶。
數個月後，南韓施行反貪污法，禁用假名開設帳戶，這個帳戶就被凍結了。
帳戶所有人仍能存款，但必須登記真名才能提款，「羅某」自然無法提款。
西南部光州市隆峰行政區資深官員劉俊秀在電話中告訴法新社說：「他不知道自己的本名或是出生地，我們幾經努力但仍無從辨識他的身份。」
然而，這筆能讓他過著不愁吃穿優渥生活的鉅款被凍結在銀行中，他只能蓋著塑膠布睡覺，靠收破銅爛鐵和其他垃圾維生，到了二ＯＯ七年，他才搬進一個貨櫃棲身。
雖然無法從這個帳戶提款，他還是一直存錢進去。
劉說：「他曾說他想用存款買一棟房子。」
「上個月，我們才替他向法院申請新的身份證明，法院還在審核中。」
他補充說，當地法院應會將這筆存款充公，繳交國庫。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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