SOUTH KOREA: GOLD COLLECTION SCHEME PROVING SUCCESSFUL

(10 Jan 1998) Korean/Nat Hundreds of people in South Korea queued to hand in their gold jewellery for smelting on Saturday, in an effort to raise much needed foreign currency to fend off a worsening economic crisis. Still reeling from the crash of the South East Asian economies, the government scheme has proved overwhelmingly successful. The campaign, launched five days ago, has raised tens of (m) millions of U-S dollars. In an overwhelming display of support for their government, at a time of crisis, Korean flocked to hand in their personal gold on Saturday. The South Korean economy has suffered along with the rest of South East Asia, and this campaign to raise much needed foreign currency has proved very successful. The collected gold by the South Korean citizens arrived on Saturday at Korea Zinc in Ulsan. The transported gold was immediately taken to the smeltery to be weighed and melted into gold bullions for export. The gold that was brought into Korea Zinc on Saturday, weighed four tons, amounting to approximately 22 (m) million U-S dollars. The four tons of gold was the result of a two day collection from about 200 branches of the Housing and Commercial Bank throughout the South Korean peninsula. Korean citizens had handed in their gold jewellery, plate and ornaments. Because of the purification process it takes ten days to make the gold into bars. Once formed into ingots they will be exported and sold at the international gold market, where they will be sold in U-S dollars. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) “The gold resulting from the first step process where we remove the impurities will come out to be 99-point-9 percent pure gold. Right now, we are in the process of melting the gold into 1- kg gold bars.“ SUPER CAPTION: Kim Uan-Soo, manager of smelting division The gold campaign, launched on January 5th, was aimed at raising foreign currency to overcome the economic crisis, and is scheduled to run until January 31. The nationwide gold collection campaign has received tremendous support from the people. The Korean people who brought in their gold, will be repaid in one month, in Korean currency. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: