An extraordinary gold collection drive in South Korea to help fill the country's foreign exchange coffers netted another 7 metric tons Wednesday, the state-run Korea Broadcasting System radio said.
This brings the total to 17 tons worth more than $170 million since the collection started Monday, the radio said."We have seen strong support from citizens to the campaign so far," Lee Jun-woo, a manager of Daewoo Corp, which is sponsoring the campaign.
"I did not realize how much gold I have in my closet until this campaign," said Nam Kwang-woo, a 24-year old man, in front of a bank counter.
The campaign has succeeded so well the sponsors are getting picky about what kind of gold they will accept.
Tuesday, the Housing and Commercial Bank, a key sponsor of the nationwide campaign launched earlier this week, said only gold items carrying an official appraisal stamp of at least 97 percent purity would be accepted.
Since Monday, South Koreans have lined up to sell rings, necklaces, bracelets, hairpicks, keys, coins and turtles - a common gold item held by Koreans.
Spot gold prices tumbled to new 18-year lows this week on fears of a flood of bullion from South Korea and concerns about deflation, sparked by a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan over the weekend.
Spot gold was quoted Wednesday at $281.60/ 282.00 an ounce.