Senior officials report huge wealth gains

A state-run watchdog said Thursday that close to 70 percent of high-ranking government officials and lawmakers saw their wealth grow by an average of about 200 million won ($181,000) last year.

The report by the Government Public Ethic Committee said that some 2,300 senior officials in the National Assembly, the government, the top courts and the National Election Commission reported increased wealth, citing rises in their savings and hikes in their real estate assets, among others.

The average wealth of those surveyed came to 1.53 billion won, compared to the average 1.32 billion won in 2013.

President Park Geun-hye’s wealth rose by about 11.9 percent to 3.17 billion won. Savings from her salary and income from sales of her autobiography attributed to the rise.

Among the 292 lawmakers, 239, or 81.8 percent, enjoyed growth in assets, with the average level of wealth reaching 2.86 billion won.

The richest lawmaker was Rep. Kim Se-yeon of the governing Saenuri Party with over 144 billion won. Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy came second with about 78.8 billion won. Saenuri Rep. Park Duk-hyum came third with 54 billion won.

The average wealth of President Park’s Cabinet was 1.8 billion won. A Constitutional Court Justice typically held about 1.7 billion won.

Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo, formerly the floor leader of the Saenuri Party, meanwhile, reported that his wealth shrank by 74 million won to 1.24 billion won.

Some of the interesting additions of wealth included an ambulance by National Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa, who was a medical doctor, late last year.

Saenuri Rep. Hong Moon-jong reported a taxidermy set that includes a giraffe, a lion and a buffalo, while North Chungcheong Province Council speaker Lee An-koo owned six automobiles.

Senior public servants such as ranking government officials, lawmakers, municipality heads, members of local legislatures and senior judges are obligated to disclose their assets under the public service ethics act to prevent corruption and enhance ethics.

By Jeong Hunny ()