South Korean police said Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some 140,000 dollars from a bank.

The girl took cash and cheques on Thursday from a small safe under the desk in the VIP room of a bank in the southern island of Jeju, they said. The room was temporarily empty apart from the child.

The mother was arrested the same day after a closed-circuit TV clip showed the child near the safe. Police seized the money and cash as evidence.

"The mother insists she did not tell the kid to steal the money," a detective told AFP by phone.