AVERAGE WEALTH OF GOV’T OFFICIALS

[Anchor Lead]

The average wealth of some 1,900 government officials has been found to stand at 1.6 billion won. Eight out of ten officials have seen their assets increase from last year. One of the reasons is the higher official price of real estate.

[Pkg]

The average amount of wealth amassed by 1,978 government officials is 1 billion 621 million 450,000 won, approximately 1.3 million USD. Eight out of ten officials have seen their assets increase from last year by 160 million won on average.

[Soundbite] Yeon Won-jung(Ministry of Personnel Management) : "The value of assets rose by KRW 95.2 mn due to higher officially announced real estate prices and stock market index. The amount of net assets such as personal savings and wealth inheritance increased by KRW 71 mn."

Minister of Government Legislation Lee Kang-seop has over 35 billion won in private assets, ranking first. His wealth has increased by more than 23 billion won from 2021. It was also the largest increase among the surveyed government officials. The combined value of non-listed stocks owned by Lee and his family has surged nearly nine times on-year to surpass 20 billion won. Minister of Gender Equality and Family Chung Young-ai has reported 4.6 billion won in assets, the most among cabinet ministers. She was followed by Minister of the Interior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol at 3.9 billion won. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum reported 1.5 billion won in assets, while Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Eun-hae — 160 million won, ranking the lowest among government officials. Among the heads of local governments, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon reported 5.9 billion won, ranking first. Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon ranked second with 4.6 billion won. About 36 percent of the government officials refused to disclose the assets of their parents and children, 2.5 percentage points more than the previous year.