hankyoreh

Jung Man-seok explains a bulletin reporting government officials’ assets published by the Government Public Ethics Committee

2.9 billion won – about US$2.44 million. This is the average assets (based on figures reported at the end of 2015) of South Korea’s 405 highest ranking government officials, including the president, senior presidential secretaries, ministers, lawmakers, the chief justice and other justices on the Supreme Court and justices on the Constitutional Court.

The Hankyoreh calculated this figure based on changes in the assets of 2,328 high-ranking officials that were included in a bulletin published on Mar. 25 by the Government Public Ethics Committee.

These most powerful of South Korea’s political leaders are also in the top 1% of the country’s wealthiest individuals.

South Koreans with more than 991 million won (US$847,000) in assets fall within the top 1%, while the average assets of this top 1% are 2.44 billion won (per capita in 2013, according to an analysis in 2015 by Kim Nak-nyeon, a professor at Dongguk University).

Essentially, South Korea’s highest public officials have ten times the assets of the average South Korean household, which has average net assets of 280.65 million won, according to a 2015 government survey on household finance and welfare.

The average assets of political appointees and high-ranking civil servants in the executive branch; the presidents of national, provincial and municipal universities; the mayors of metropolitan cities and the heads of other local governmental bodies; and provincial and municipal superintendents of education (1,813 individuals) were 1.33 billion won (US$1.13 million).

The average assets of the president, presidential secretaries, public officials in the National Security Office, the prime minister, ministers of various agencies, the mayors of metropolitan cities, provincial and municipal superintendents of education and the speakers of municipal and provincial legislatures (93 individuals) were 1.95 billion won (US$1.66 million).

The average assets of lawmakers were 3.22 billion won (US2.75 million), but this drops to 1.96 billion won if some extremely wealthy lawmakers are excluded from the calculations. Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo with the People’s Party and Rep. Kim Se-yeon and Rep. Park Deok-heum with the Saenuri Party possess fortunes ranging from 50 billion to 100 billion won.

The average assets of 160 high-ranking judges were 2.04 billion won (US$1.74 million), and the average assets of the 13 justices on the Supreme Court (including the chief justice) were 1.88 billion won. The average assets of the nine justices on the Constitutional Court were calculated at 1.76 billion won (US$1.5 million).

While South Korea is in a deep economic downturn – with the per capita gross national income decreasing last year for the first time in six years and the economic growth rate dropping to the 2% range – between 70 and 80% of high-ranking officials saw their assets grow.

While 60 to 70% of the growth in assets results from inheriting real estate and from saving wages, real estate inherited from parents appears to have accounted for more of the growth in assets than savings.

Around 30 to 40% of the growth reflected the increasing value of assets these officials already owned, which is a consequence of the concentration of wealth. The Government Public Ethics Committee explained this as “an increase in the appraised value of land, an increase in the appraised price of apartments and houses and an increase in the overall stock market.”

Of the total 2,328 individuals, 631, or 27%, saw their assets increase by at least 100 million won over the space of a year.

It is very likely that the actual net assets of high-ranking public servants are even higher than the amount that they report. Between 30 and 40% of high-ranking officials refused to make public the assets of their parents, children and grandchildren.

The percentage of high-ranking officials in the central and local government who refused to declare their assets was 30.2%, the highest rate in five years. The rate of refusal among lawmakers in the National Assembly was 39.7%, with ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers the highest at 45.5%, followed by the opposition Minjoo Party of Korea at 33.3% and the People’s Party at 23.8%.

Public officials also continue to lie about and misrepresent their assets, with 411 (13%) of the 3,147 people required to declare their assets last year busted for declaring inaccurate figures.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]