Man charged for trying to sell BTS JungKook's lost hat: Police

Police in South Korea confirmed that the black bucket hat belonged to the BTS main vocalist and the person who tried to sell the hat online for 10 million Korean Won has been charged.

According to the Seocho Police Station on Monday, HYBE Entertainment confirmed the BTS member lost his hat in the Waiting Room of the passport department at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, korean media said.

The police said, "We charged A (person name concealed) with embezzlement of lost articles. We have concluded investigations and A has admitted to the allegations. We are further looking into the legal basis if we should charge him with occupational embezzlement instead."

As per sources to Kmedia, the government employee at the foreign affairs passport office stole JK's hat and made no attempts to try to give it back (which is also a crime there, and considering they had all their contact info that’s p shitty..) then tried to sell it for a lot. The transaction got canceled, and the person was charged.

South Korean police briefed local media on the case involving the online post made on an online marketplace selling JK’s lost hat at 10 million Korean Won.

The case attracted massive attention from the public as the seller claimed to be an employee at the foreign affairs ministry and to have acquired it from the office premises.

On November 7, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul announced that they had completed the investigation on the former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who made an online post to sell the hat worn by Jungkook.

Previously, the person attempted to trying to sell the hat worn by Jungkook for 10 million won (approximately $7,100), posting a photo of the hat online together with a picture of a civil service employee identification card.

The person claimed that Jungkook left the hat in the waiting area when BTS visited the Passport Division to make their passports and that they acquired ownership of the hat since no one called or visited to claim ownership for six months after it was reported as lost property, soompi.com reported.

However, it was revealed that there was no record of the hat being reported as a lost item from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the National Police Agency. As this became controversial, the person deleted the post and turned themselves in to police in Yongin City of Gyeonggi Province.

BTS’ agency reported to have responded to the police saying, “It is true that [Jungkook] lost his hat at that place (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).”

When the issue was raised during the general audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee held on October 24, Minister Park Jin said, “If it is confirmed to be true, we will deal with it strictly according to related regulations”, the report added.

It has not been decided whether the hat will be returned.

(With UNI inputs)