Average Wealth of Incumbent Candidates: Democratic Party 1.8 Billion KRW, United Party 2.9 Billion KRW... 15 Candidates with Over 5 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeon Jinyoung and Heo Midam] Among the incumbent members of the Democratic Party of Korea and the United Future Party running in the 21st general election, the average assets of the candidates are approximately 1.8 billion KRW and 2.9 billion KRW, respectively. The number of candidates with assets exceeding 5 billion KRW is much higher in the United Future Party, with 12 members compared to 3 in the Democratic Party.

This is the result of an analysis of the asset declarations of incumbent candidates running in the April 15 general election, based on the 2020 regular asset change report disclosure list released by the National Assembly Public Officials Ethics Committee on the 26th. There are 93 Democratic Party incumbents and 67 United Future Party incumbents running in the election. The average assets of Democratic Party incumbents running are 1.7781 billion KRW, while those of the United Future Party are 2.8847 billion KRW, showing a difference of about 1.1 billion KRW. Lawmakers Kim Byung-kwan of the Democratic Party and Park Deok-heum of the United Future Party, who declared assets exceeding 50 billion KRW, were excluded from this analysis.

(Photo by Asia Economy DB)

Among the Democratic Party candidates, three lawmakers declared assets exceeding 5 billion KRW. Kim Byung-kwan, running in Seongnam Bundang-gap, declared 231.14449 billion KRW, ranking first overwhelmingly among all National Assembly members. He is the founder of the game company Webzen and holds stocks worth 153.7 billion KRW, making him a 'stock-rich' lawmaker.

Park Jeong, CEO of 'Park Jeong Language Academy' running in Paju-eul, Gyeonggi Province, declared 31.41085 billion KRW. Most of his assets are real estate, including land in Paju worth 12.2 billion KRW and a building in Mapo, Seoul worth 33.6 billion KRW. He also has debts of 16.1 billion KRW to financial institutions. Lawmaker Ahn Kyu-baek declared assets worth 5.65285 billion KRW.

Among the United Future Party candidates, 12 incumbent lawmakers declared assets exceeding 5 billion KRW, four times the number in the Democratic Party. In order of highest assets, they are Park Deok-heum, Seong Il-jong, Kim Sam-hwa, Shim Jae-cheol, Jeong Woo-taek, Jeong Jin-seok, Hong Cheol-ho, Park Seong-jung, Jeong Jeom-sik, Lee Hye-hoon, Song Eon-seok, and Ji Sang-wook.

Park Deok-heum, running in Boeun, Okcheon, Yeongdong, and Goesan, Chungbuk Province, declared assets of 55.98502 billion KRW. He owns multiple lands, an apartment in Samsung-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, an apartment in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu under his spouse’s name, and a detached house in Gapyeong-gun. Seong Il-jong showed the largest increase in real estate assets among United Future Party lawmakers, with an increase of 2.64416 billion KRW. This was largely due to the purchase of a new apartment in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, jointly owned with his spouse, and the increased valuation of land.

Kim Sam-hwa, challenging in Jungnang-gap, Seoul, declared 10.09384 billion KRW, followed by Shim Jae-cheol, the floor leader running for his sixth term in Dongan-eul, Anyang, with 9.65725 billion KRW.

On the other hand, Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Sun-mi declared a negative net worth of -1.14556 billion KRW, and United Future Party lawmaker Kim Soo-min declared -35.53 million KRW, indicating debts exceeding their assets. Other low-ranking lawmakers include Democratic Party’s Lee Hu-sam (14.44 million KRW) and Yoon Jun-ho (143.85 million KRW), and United Future Party’s Ham Jin-gyu (243.35 million KRW) and Ahn Sang-soo (379.56 million KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.