[Public Officials' Asset Disclosure] Ministry of Science and ICT and Affiliated Agencies Average 3 Billion KRW... Top Asset Holder Has 14 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] It has been revealed that some senior officials of the Ministry of Science and ICT and its affiliated institutions have acquired large amounts of domestic or overseas stocks. Most of them owned assets worth over 1 billion KRW, with an average exceeding 3 billion KRW. Noh Do-young, President of the Institute for Basic Science, was identified as the wealthiest with reported assets of approximately 14 billion KRW.

According to the status of senior officials' assets disclosed by the government on the 25th, there are a total of 31 senior officials subject to disclosure from the Ministry of Science and ICT and its affiliated institutions, holding an average of 3,098,580,000 KRW in assets. The person with the highest assets is Noh Do-young, President of the Institute for Basic Science, who reported 14,052,418,000 KRW. Following him is Kim Chang-yong, President of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, with 13,316,574,000 KRW, and Minister Choi Ki-young reported 11,931,669,000 KRW, ranking third. Other high-net-worth individuals with assets exceeding 4 billion KRW include Lee Yong-hoon, President of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, with 4,573,740,000 KRW; Noh Jong-hye, Chairperson of the National Research Foundation of Korea, with 4,322,168,000 KRW; and Park Hyun-min, President of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, with 4,439,516,000 KRW. However, Yoo Guk-hee, Director of the National Science Museum, reported the lowest amount at 388,109,000 KRW.

In particular, it was confirmed that some senior officials recently made large investments in stocks. Yong Hong-taek, Director of the R&D Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, reported newly purchasing overseas stocks worth 104,628,000 KRW under his name, and also newly acquired stocks worth 51,476,000 KRW and 26,477,000 KRW under the names of his spouse and eldest son, respectively. Noh Do-young, the wealthiest official, also saw an increase in the valuation of his stock holdings by 3,562,769,000 KRW, resulting in a total asset increase of 2,696,692,000 KRW compared to the previous year.

In the case of President Noh, the asset growth effect from stocks was significant due to the change in the reporting standard for stock holdings from face value to market valuation. Kim Mi-sook, President of the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences, held domestic stocks worth 2,859,456,000 KRW across dozens of items under her and her spouse's names. Moon Yong-sik, President of the National Information Society Agency, was also a 'Seohak Ant' (Korean individual investor in U.S. stocks) in the overseas stock market, holding stocks worth 880,383,000 KRW including Vietnamese stocks. Park Won-seok, President of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, was confirmed to hold stocks worth 287,570,000 KRW across dozens of items.

Most senior officials of the Ministry of Science and ICT saw their assets increase over the past year. Noh Do-young, President of the Institute for Basic Science, showed the largest increase of 2,696,692,000 KRW. Following him, Minister Choi increased by 1,168,184,000 KRW due to real estate sales, increased deposits, and market price rises. First Vice Minister Jeong Byung-sun also ranked third with an increase of 713,101,000 KRW compared to the previous year, mainly from apartment sales. On the other hand, Park Won-seok, President of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, showed the largest decrease of 654,534,000 KRW.

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