By Jhoo Dong-chan
A high-voltage power cable has been missing for a month from a Hyundai Steel factory in South Chungcheong Province. Suspecting a possible theft, police have been investigating the case, but the 8 kilometer-long cable worth about 500 million won ($438,327) is still missing.
According to Dangjin Police Station in South Chungcheong Province, the case was first reported by a Hyundai Steel worker July 18. The missing cable is 6.8 centimeters in diameter and is used mostly as a spare in case of power supply problems.
A Hyundai Steel official said it has kept high-voltage cables at several places in its Dangjin factory since 2012.
“We still have not ruled out the possibility that a worker used the missing cable without official permission; but the cable has yet to be found in the factory,” he said. “Probably, the missing cable was stolen.”
This isn’t the first time that similar types of cables have been stolen from the Hyundai Steel factory. Although the factory is classified as one of the most secure facilities in the nation, it reportedly did not have surveillance cameras installed. And the factory security forces did not even confirm that the cable was missing in a timely way.
“I think the cable was stolen,” a local police official said. “We are running around trying to get information from the factory workers. It is likely an inside job committed by a worker who knows a lot about the factory. We believe the suspects cut the cable into pieces to smuggle them outside the factory over at least 20 days.”
Hyundai Steel said it checked CCTV cameras around the factory but failed to find anything. It also added that CCTV cameras had been recently turned off several times.
Hyundai Steel operates six factories in Korea and China _ Incheon, Dangjin, Pohang, Suncheon and Ulsan in Korea and in China's Chungdo Province. Headquartered in Incheon and Seoul, it is the oldest steelmaker in Korea, being established in 1953.
Last month, Hyundai Steel reported that its net profits plunged 46 percent in the second quarter of 2017 from the previous year because of lower demand in China.
Its sister firms, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, are two major buyers of the steel company's high-end automotive steel products. Hyundai Steel earns about 30 percent of its overall sales from deals with the nation’s top two carmakers.