(Herald DB) The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a Mongolian man to six months in prison, suspended for one year, for attempting to exchange 9.4 million won ($6,200) worth of counterfeit Japanese yen he found at his workplace, local media reported Saturday.The man found 100 fake 10,000 yen bills in November 2025 at a waste disposal company in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, where he worked, according to reports. He later attempted to exchange the bills at a currency exchange shop in Jung-gu, central Seoul.An employee at the first exchange shop refused to accept the bills, saying they were old, discontinued banknotes and could not be read by the shop’s bill counter. The man then visited several other exchange shops.At the fourth shop, an employee suspected the bills were counterfeit. The man demaded the bills be returned, and reached behind the counter to retrieve it.After the employee stopped him, the man fled the shop, then returned and demanded that the bill be handed back. He fled again after the employee said they would report the matter to police.The man claimed in court that he had not known the bills were counterfeit when he tried to exchange them, but the court rejected the claim.“The defendant acquired the yen at a waste sorting site,” the court said, noting that the circumstances differed from ordinary methods of obtaining currency.“After finding the bills and searching relevant information online, he attempted to exchange them at private currency exchange shops instead of reporting them to investigative authorities or checking their authenticity at a financial institution such as a bank,” the court said.The court found him guilty of using counterfeit foreign currency after becoming aware it was fake, rather than the more serious charge of knowingly using counterfeit foreign currency from the time of acquisition.The court explained that the heavier charge applies when a person knows the currency is counterfeit from the moment they obtain it and then uses it, while the lighter charge applies when a person learns it is counterfeit only afterward and then attempts to use it.“When a person obtains foreign currency through an unusual method, such as picking up lost foreign bills, it is natural to question whether the currency is genuine,” the court said.