As domestic gold prices hit a record high day after day, the Golden Bat statue, a symbolic sculpture of Hampyeong County in South Jeolla Province, is drawing attention again. At the time it was made, it was mired in controversy over waste of taxpayer money, but with the surge in gold prices pushing the value of the materials alone into the tens of billions of won, the assessment is changing.
According to Hampyeong County and the Korea Gold Exchange on the 27th, the price of 3.75 grams of pure gold (one don) stood at 1,034,000 won as of the previous day, a record high. Domestic gold prices first topped 1 million won on the 21st, then briefly corrected, but they are rising again as international gold prices climb and demand grows for safe-haven assets.
Amid this sharp rise in gold prices, the Golden Bat statue produced by Hampyeong County in 2008 is also attracting interest. The Golden Bat statue is a sculpture made with 162 kilograms of pure gold and 281 kilograms of silver, depicting six golden bats spreading their wings and taking flight atop a circular silver structure measuring 1.5 meters wide and 2.1 meters tall.
At the time of production, about 2.7 billion won was spent on materials alone for the Golden Bat statue. However, it once faced criticism as a "waste of taxpayer money" on the grounds that it fell short of expectations for drawing tourists.
However, the assessment changed as gold prices climbed steeply. Since March 2008, when the Korea Gold Exchange began official tracking, gold prices stayed in the 100,000–300,000 won range for a long time, then topped 400,000 won for the first time in March 2024, surged past 600,000 won in March last year, and broke through the 800,000 won level in October the same year.
Based on the previous day's market price, the material value of the 162 kilograms of pure gold used for the Golden Bat statue is estimated at about 38.67 billion won.
Citing security concerns, Hampyeong County had temporarily displayed the Golden Bat statue at the Golden Bat Ecology Exhibition Hall near Hampyeong Expo Park, but as interest has recently grown, it revamped the display space and converted it to a permanent exhibition.
A Hampyeong County official said, "The Golden Bat statue is not merely a gold-and-silver sculpture but a symbolic asset that embodies Hampyeong's ecological value," adding, "Given the sharp rise in gold prices, we are not considering additional production plans at this time."