[Anchor]
A theft involving millions of won recently occurred at a golf course in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.
Belying its title as the 'first-generation prestige golf course' of Shinan Group, ranked 60th among Korea's business groups, the course showed an irresponsible attitude toward resolving the incident.
It makes a mockery of the company's own introduction, which says it places 'corporate ethics' as its highest value for the sake of social responsibility and trust.
Reporter Yang Mi-jeong has the story.


[Reporter]
A theft involving millions of won recently took place at Riviera CC, a members-only golf course in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

The suspect, Mr. A, stole 5 million won in cash from the glove box of a Bentley and fled before being caught by police.

It turned out that Mr. A was not a professional valet attendant but a salesman for a vehicle restoration company who regularly helped out the parking attendants, and that he committed the crime deliberately.

Yet a Riviera CC official deflected responsibility, calling it an incident caused by the valet parking company's carelessness.

[Interview (by phone): Riviera CC official]
- "While our valet staff stepped away for a moment, (the suspect) took the customer's car key and stole the money. The valet company wired the money to the victim. So the 5 million won was paid."

The valet parking company likewise said it was a matter for the police to handle, and dodged the reporter's question about whether it runs criminal background checks when hiring staff.

[Interview (by phone): Head of the valet parking company]
- "I don't really know about that. The police would know. It wasn't something we did; the police caught the culprit, so they'd know. He set out to steal and stole it...."

In the end, the victim was compensated for the full amount stolen, but says he never received a proper apology or a promise from the golf course to prevent a recurrence.

[Interview (by phone): Victim of Mr. A]
- "I've been visiting for a long time. I heard a similar incident happened at Shinan CC, which is run by the same group. It's truly unacceptable. Since you hand your car over to valet parking because you trust the golf course, I believe the full responsibility lies with the golf course."

Once our reporting began, Riviera CC said it had acknowledged its moral responsibility and apologized to the victim, but the golden hour for recovering the trust it lost had already passed.

[Interview (by phone): Attorney Shin Dong-woo]
- "To keep incidents like this from recurring, regulation of valet parking is absolutely necessary. In particular, we should consider moving valet parking businesses from the current notification system to a registration system, and imposing obligations such as criminal background checks and insurance coverage."

[Stand-up: Yang Mi-jeong / Reporter]
- "While Riviera CC continues its complacent response,
distrust is growing among patrons who have entrusted their cars to the golf course."

Yang Mi-jeong, Maeil Kyungje TV News. [mkcertain@mk.co.kr]

Video: Reporter Park Hyun-sung [mkphs@mk.co.kr]