Kim So-Young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, Places 20.9 Billion Won Worth of Family Company Shares in Blind Trust

Plan to Complete Blank Trust This Week

Kim So-young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, has decided to place the shares of her family company worth 20.9 billion KRW into a blind trust. According to the Financial Services Commission on the 7th, she decided to place into a blind trust shares worth approximately 20.9 billion KRW, which represent 29% of the family company 'Jungang Sangseon' operated by her father and brother.

According to the high-ranking public officials' asset disclosure in March, Kim's total assets amounted to 29.3 billion KRW, of which 20.9 billion KRW were shares of Jungang Sangseon. The Financial Services Commission stated that the blind trust is expected to be completed within this week.

High-ranking public officials or members of the National Assembly who hold stocks exceeding 30 million KRW, either personally or through interested parties (such as spouses), must sell the stocks within two months or entrust their disposal to an agent with no conflicts of interest through a blind trust. However, if the Stock Blind Trust Review Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management determines that there is no job-related connection after reviewing the case, the stocks do not have to be disposed of.

Accordingly, Kim applied for a review by the Stock Blind Trust Review Committee last year and received a judgment that there was a job-related connection. However, on the 17th of last month, she filed a lawsuit at the Seoul Administrative Court against the committee to cancel the review decision. Nevertheless, due to a conflict of interest controversy arising from the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies (External Audit Act), she decided to place the shares into a blind trust.

The amendment raised the asset threshold for unlisted companies required to undergo accounting audits from 100 billion KRW to 500 billion KRW. Since Jungang Sangseon had total assets of 171.7 billion KRW as of the end of last year, it could avoid the regulation, raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest.

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