Shinil disagreed on the amount of its possible deposit, saying what it has officially located was the shipwreck, not treasures on it. It estimated the shipwreck's value at 1.2 billion won ($1 million) and planned to put down 120 million won ($105,540) as a deposit. Company spokesman Park Seong-jin said his company will file a request for the ship's salvage right later this week.

Some experts also said it's unlikely that the Donskoi, a thickly armored warship with more than 12 artillery pieces, 500 sailors and presumably 1,600 tons of coal, would have had room for 200 tons of gold, which would be double the current gold reserves at South Korea's central bank. And there's questions about the gold's worth being estimated at $132 billion - the Bank of Korea's 104 tons of gold reserves are valued at around $4.8 billion.

Even if the ship is hoisted and treasures are found, their ownership could be disputed.

A South Korean Financial Ministry official responsible for the issue said that Russia may be able to claim ownership. Park disputed that, saying 80 percent of the potential treasures would belong to the company while the rest would go to a South Korean government coffer. He cited related South Korean law and an international court ruling on a similar case.

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