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As efforts to recover the hidden assets of the Bashar al-Assad family in Syria are underway following the regime's collapse, there is growing global interest in the scale of hidden wealth accumulated by dictators around the world. The individual with the largest amount of concealed assets is former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who is believed to have embezzled more than 200 trillion won. Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, also amassed more than 70 trillion won in hidden wealth. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has profited from cryptocurrency exchange thefts and other illicit activities, is estimated to possess between 4 trillion and 7 trillion won in ruling funds.

Among dictators who seized power through military coups rather than inheriting royal wealth, Gaddafi, the former Libyan dictator, is estimated to have accumulated the most hidden assets. He ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011, amassing more than $150 billion (about 215 trillion won) through embezzlement of oil export revenues and other means.

According to Germany's DPA news agency, at the time of his death during the 2011 Libyan revolution, Gaddafi's hidden assets were estimated at $150 billion, about three times more than the wealth of Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications tycoon who was then ranked the world's richest by Forbes ($53.5 billion). After the collapse of the Gaddafi regime, his palaces and mansions were found to contain various extravagant luxury items, including golden sofas.

The golden AK-47 rifle owned by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, revealed by the Royal Armouries Museum (RAM) in December 2023. Royal Armouries Museum

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Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq until he was ousted by the Iraq War from 1979 to 2003, is estimated to have hidden assets worth $50 billion (about 71 trillion won). Obsessed with collecting gold during his lifetime, he even gold-plated his firearms to create a collection of golden guns. In December last year, the Royal Armouries Museum (RAM) in the UK exhibited one of Hussein's golden guns, seized by British troops during the Iraq War.

The Assad family, whose hidden assets are currently being actively sought, is believed to have about $12 billion (about 17 trillion won), much less than Gaddafi or Hussein. As the civil war has dragged on for 13 years, a significant portion of the embezzled assets is thought to have been spent on military expenditures or looted by rebel forces.

On the 22nd of last month, Kim Jongun, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, took a commemorative photo with participants of the 4th Battalion Commanders and Battalion Political Instructors Conference. Photo by Yonhap News

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In Asia, Kim Jong Un, who continues the three-generation hereditary dictatorship, is estimated to possess hidden assets worth between 4 trillion and 7 trillion won. With prolonged international sanctions making normal exports impossible, North Korea mainly earns funds by dispatching overseas workers, illegal arms and drug trafficking, and cryptocurrency theft.

The BBC has reported that Kim's personal fortune, known as "revolutionary funds," is estimated at $3 billion to $5 billion (about 4 trillion to 7 trillion won). Most of this is siphoned from the approximately 100,000 North Korean workers dispatched abroad, who collectively earn around $200 million annually. It is also estimated that about 3,000 to 5,000 North Korean hackers and IT specialists generate nearly $100 million each year through cryptocurrency theft and hacking.

Kim Jong Un mainly uses these funds for weapons development and to purchase luxury goods. According to the British media outlet The Sun, he owns 17 villas across North Korea and a luxury yacht approximately 29 meters long. In 2016, The Sun reported that Kim imported luxury lingerie worth $2.7 million (about 4 billion won) from China using the revolutionary funds.

In July 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia and held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi delegation at the royal palace. Photo by EPA and Yonhap News

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The royal families of major oil-producing countries in the Middle East are known to have accumulated far greater wealth. According to Forbes, the Saudi royal family possesses the most assets among Middle Eastern royal families, with total assets estimated at about $2 trillion (about 2,871 trillion won). The Saudi royal family not only profits from oil exports but also invests in various overseas assets through the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund managed by the royal family.

The next wealthiest royal family in the Middle East is Kuwait's, with $360 billion (about 521 trillion won) in assets. The third is Qatar's royal family with $335 billion (about 485 trillion won), followed by the six royal families that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a combined $150 billion (about 215 trillion won). These oil-rich nations have accumulated vast assets mainly since the start of oil development in the Middle East in the 1930s.

Outside the Middle East, the Thai royal family is believed to have the most assets, estimated at about $40 billion (about 58 trillion won). Meanwhile, the British royal family is known to possess more than $30 billion (about 43 trillion won), including overseas real estate holdings.