hankyoreh

By Lee Jae-myong, staff reporter　　
Total assets for the country’s top 100 chaebol were found to be nearly equal to the assets held by the government as of late 2011.
On July 1, the website chaebul.com released a report on the top 100 chaebol with owners according to assets (not including current public enterprises or privatized public enterprises). Total assets for these groups were found to total 1.45 quadrillion won (US$1.27 trillion) as of the end of last year.
This is equivalent to around 95% of the government‘s total assets of 1.52 quadrillion won (US$1.33 trillion), as reported in May by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
Given that company assets are growing at an average rate of around 8% per year, their total is expected to pass the government’s by the end of the year.
The figures also showed a concentration of economic power in the hands of the topmost groups among the one hundred. Four groups - Samsung, Hyundai Motors, SK, and LG - held a combined total of 671 trillion won (US$586.8 billion) in assets, or 46.4% of the total for all 100 groups and 44% of the government‘s total assets.
The Samsung Group in particular owned around 280 trillion won (US$244.7 billion), or 19.3%, indicating its strong influence on the South Korean economy.
Hyundai Motors, SK, and LG also had more than 100 trillion won (US$87.4 billion) in assets, at 155 trillion won (US$135.3 billion), 136 trillion won (US$119.3 billion), and 101 trillion won (US$88.1 billion), respectively. In fifth place was Lotte, with 83.4 trillion won (US$72.9 billion).
　　
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