"Husband's Money Is Also My Money" 10 Million Won Saving Challenge Trend Leads to Money Vanishing from Husband's Wallet

The '10 Million Won Savings Challenge' Craze in the Era of High Inflation
Housewife Posting Challenge Videos Secretly Takes Money from Husband's Wallet
"Oppa's Money Is Also My Money," "Let's Save Money and Drink" Sparks Netizens' Debate: "Theft" vs "Economic Partnership"

Recently, a '10 Million Won Savings Challenge' craze has been sweeping social networking services (SNS). Although the challenge started with the good intention of encouraging thrift and saving to accumulate a large sum of money, it has become controversial as some netizens have been seen investing their spouse's share of money into the '10 Million Won Challenge' without consent.

A housewife who took on the "Ten Million Won Challenge" adds three 50,000-won bills taken from her husband's wallet to the challenge amount.
[Photo by SNS]

On the 26th, posts titled "The 10 Million Won Savings Challenge Trending on Instagram These Days" appeared on various online communities and SNS. This challenge is conducted by cashing out even small amounts of money amid persistent high inflation, placing the cash into a transparent holder, and then entering the amount into a calculator to verify the total.

The problem began when some netizens started including not only their own money but also their spouse's or friends' assets in the challenge verification amount without permission. A housewife, Ms. A, who posted a challenge video, said, "There were three 50,000 won bills in my husband's wallet," and added, "I immediately put (a total of 150,000 won) into the 10 Million Won Challenge. I feel sorry for my husband, but his money is my money, and my money is my money." At the end of the video, Ms. A also said, "(Let's) save up the full 10 million won and drink together. I love you."

A housewife who took on the "Ten Million Won Challenge" adds three 50,000-won bills taken from her husband's wallet to the challenge amount.
[Photo by SNS]

Netizens who saw the video reacted with comments such as, "Are you saving 10 million won just to drink?", "Why are you taking money from your husband's wallet?", "Isn't that theft?", "They seem to think saying 'I love you' after taking the money makes everything okay," "If I were the husband, I would get a divorce," "They don't seem to understand the meaning of the challenge," and "If you don't have enough money, why don't you get a part-time job yourself? I feel sorry for the husband."

On the other hand, some netizens responded, "It seems like they did that intentionally for the sake of the video's entertainment," "When married, the husband's money is the wife's money, and the wife's money is the husband's money. A married couple is an economic community," and "It's strange to complain about taking 150,000 won."

Meanwhile, criminal law stipulates that in cases of property crimes such as theft or fraud occurring between close family members like parents, children, or spouses, the offender cannot be punished. This is called 'Chin-jok Sang-do-rye (親族相盜例; special provisions on theft among relatives).' Crimes subject to Chin-jok Sang-do-rye include ▲theft ▲fraud ▲embezzlement ▲breach of trust ▲extortion ▲possession of stolen goods, while crimes involving violent methods such as ▲robbery ▲and property damage are not included.